Skylanders Academy The Marked One
by jedininja30
Summary: Taking place one month after Dark Spyro a powerful new force threatens the Skyland's and it will take everything the Skylanders have to defeat it.
1. Chapter 1

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 1**

Deep in the Cadaverous crypts a strange hooded figure sat upon a black throne. His face was concealed beneath a hood. Around him skeletons bowed before him. These skeletons were his slaves. He slowly lifted an arm the skeletons recoiled in fear. From under the hood a deep raspy voice could be heard.

"KAI" he shouted.

A Drow Elf came running around the corner and quickly bowed before the mysterious figure.

"Yes Master" said Kai.

"I am sending you on a mission" said the man.

"Yes Master, anything for you" replied Kai.

"I want you to take the skeletons and attack the Skylander Academy and give them this message" said the man. He stretched his hand out towards Kai in his hand was a small scroll.

"yes sir, I won't fail you" said Kai. He took the scroll and quickly made his leave. Kai knew better than to ask questions. He made haste to prepare some soldiers for an attack.

 **At the Academy**

Stealth Elf opened her eyes the sun was shining bright, its powerful rays piercing through her curtains. She sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes. She let out a huge yawn and swung her feet around off her bed. She stood up and walked towards the curtains. She pulled the curtains apart and looked towards the Sky. It had been a month now since Spyro left and every morning she watched the sky's hoping to see him flying back to the Academy. Whatever he left to do she had to believe he would return to her one day.

Stealth Elf left to get dressed. Meanwhile, Eruptor was already downstairs preparing some breakfast, today it was scrambled eggs. Just as he was finishing putting the eggs onto plates, Stealth Elf teleported to the bottom of the stairs.

"smells delicious Eruptor" said Stealth Elf.

"I hope you enjoy it" said Eruptor while placing the food on the table. Stealth Elf sat down and started to eat the eggs.

"did you see him today" said Eruptor. He knew about Stealth Elf watching the skies. He checked on her one morning when she didn't come down for breakfast and found her looking out her window.

"No nothing can't believe he's been gone for a month" said Stealth Elf between bites of food.

"I know this place feels so empty without him here" said Eruptor. The two continued to eat in silence after a few minutes Jet-Vac and Pop-Fizz came out of their rooms to get some of Eruptor's delicious scrambled eggs. After she had finished Stealth Elf took her plate to the sink and rinsed it. She finished that and teleported back to her room, she picked up her blades and teleported back to the kitchen.

"I'm going to go do some training" said Stealth Elf.

"Okay have fun Elfy" said Eruptor.

Stealth Elf gave them all a wave and teleported away to the training grounds. She spent a lot of her time here. She wanted to keep herself busy, plus she had to have sharp skills when she eventually gets some cadets to train. Kaossandra was working on bringing some new cadets to the Academy. Just as she was about to start practicing a loud scream rang out. Stealth Elf quickly turned on her heels and sprinted off to the screaming. As she rounded a corner, she saw Hex getting punched to the ground by a Goliath Drow. Kai came out from behind the big guy wielding a sword.

"now we move on this cadet won't stop us" said Kai. Stealth Elf watched them they were followed by a large group of skeletons, there had to be about 40 of them. There was no way she could take them all on. Stealth Elf quickly teleported away and appeared in Kaossandra's office. Kaossandra jumped in her chair.

"Elf you scared me" she said.

"No time master the Academy is under attack rally the others" said Stealth Elf. Kaossandra jumped up from her chair and the two sprinted out to the Academy grounds. Their they could see the group of invaders overpowering the cadets. Kaossandra's voice boomed over the cries of the invaders.

"Skylanders unite the Academy is under attack" screamed Kaossandra. Within a few minutes the Skylanders came running from all directions. The Goliath Drow charged forward and punched Jet-Vac. The force knocked him backwards and sent him rolling on the floor. Stealth Elf teleported in front of him and kicked him the face, the kick barely grazed him, this Drow was tougher than your average Goliath. He swung at Stealth Elf she teleported away just in the nick of time. The Goliath charged towards Pop-fizz only to get tackled from the side. The Goliath quickly rose to his feet and looked at his attacker, it was Kaboom.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size yeah" said Kaboom. He leapt forward and punched the Goliath in the face. The Drow recoiled in pain as a mark was visible on his cheek. The Goliath grabbed Kaboom and shoved him backwards towards a building. Kaboom slammed into the building and hit his head off the wall. The Goliath landed a powerful right hand the blow knocked Kaboom to the floor. Kaboom recovered quickly and kicked the Goliaths legs out beneath him. Kaboom climbed on top of him and punched him in the face again. The Goliath kicked him off him. The two powerhouses climbed to their feet and charged at each other. They collided and they tried to push the other back.

Meanwhile Stealth Elf turned her attention to Kai.

"Attack them" ordered Kai. The group of 40 skeletons ran forward and front of him and attacked the Skylanders with their swords and shields. Stealth Elf teleported in and struck two skeletons down with her blades before teleporting away. Jet-Vac came flying in from above and shot at a few skeletons with his gun. The Skeletons raised their shields and blocked his attacks. Stealth Elf teleported and attacked a skeleton just then she was grabbed from behind, she kicked out at the person and made them let her go. However, the blade in her right hand was taken from her. She quickly turned to see Kai with one of her weapons. He quickly jabbed forward with his sword. She repelled his attack with her other blade. She teleported backwards and away from Kai's sword. She was just about to teleport behind him when Kai dropped something on the ground. It was a smoke bomb. Smoke exploded from the device and filled the area. She couldn't see Kai so Stealth Elf played it smart and teleported away from the smoke.

The fight between Kaboom and Goliath was still going on. Kaboom shifted his body and threw the Goliath over his body onto a fountain. The force shattered part of the fountain sending bricks everywhere. Kaboom went to punch him, however the goliath was too quick. He grabbed a brick and swung towards Kaboom. The brick cracked Kaboom's jaw knocking out two teeth. He stumbled back and tried to steady himself. The Goliath leapt up and kicked Kaboom in the gut. Kaboom keeled over trying to catch his breath. The Goliath brought his knee up to Kabooms face. The powerful knee put Kaboom down for the count. The other Skylanders finished off the Skeletons and went towards the Goliath. Suddenly a voice shouted out.

"Damian retreat, we have done our job today". The Goliath turned and sprinted away as soon as he heard that voice. The smoke finally cleared, and Kai was gone. Where he stood was just a scroll. Stealth Elf checked to see if all the bad guys had left. She slowly walked towards the scroll and picked it up off the grass.

"we should give this to Kaossandra" said Stealth Elf. The Skylanders made their way to Kaossandra's office.

"well done you guys defeated the attackers" said Kaossandra.

"yeah they retreated but they left something here" said Stealth Elf. She stepped forward and put the scroll on Kaossandra's desk. She picked up the scroll and unfolded it. The scroll's message was short.

 **The Marked One Has Returned the Darkness Will Rise**

Underneath the writing was a symbol. It looked like a snake. When she saw the symbol Kaossandra's eyes grew wide in shock.

"not possible" said Kaossandra.

"what is it" said Stealth Elf.

"Skylanders, something is coming, I need to tell you a story, we must take this deadly seriously, the fate of the Skylands rests on us once again" said Kaossandra.


	2. Chapter 2

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Quick word to my readers, Spyro will not be added into the series, he is away doing his own thing with Master Eon and will not return until season 4 comes out and I will adapt that into my series. Until then Spyro will not return just hoping to clear up some confusion.**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Cadaverous Crypts**

Kai slowly approached the throne.

"Master the scroll has been delivered to the Skylanders" said Kai.

"excellent now my plan can come to fruition" said the mysterious figure.

"Master are you sure they know of it's whereabouts" asked Kai.

"I'm positive only 3 people in the Skylands know where it is and 2 of them are now dead" said the figure. "soon everything will fall into place and I can rise and get my revenge".

 **At the Academy**

The Skylanders stood around Kaossandra waiting for her to speak. She turned to face them and showed them the scroll, she pointed towards the symbol.

"Skylanders this symbol is the symbol of the Marked Ones" said Kaossandra.

"what are the Marked Ones?" asked Eruptor.

"The Marked Ones was a clan of humans, they were incredibly powerful and wielded great magic, they worked as creators. They forged powerful weapons that could take down whole groups of enemies. Many years ago, they joined Strykore in the great war for the Skylands. At one of the biggest battles there were just two of them left. These two powerful humans decided to create a weapon above anything they made before. This weapon was the Claw of Darkness, it was a weapon unlike any other, it lived, the weapon when not being used was like a snake it moved on its own and when it was used it would wrap around the users arm. They were smart though in order to avoid anyone using it against them, they created a fail-safe only those who carried the mark could wield it, the mark was the sign of their clan. A black snake" said Kaossandra.

"and these Marked Ones have returned?" said Stealth Elf.

"It's impossible for them to have returned" said Kaossandra.

"why?" asked Stealth Elf.

"because in one of the battles Eon was forced to kill them both, the powerful beings refused to surrender and were threatening innocent civilians, he killed them both, he had no choice. There were no other Marked Ones, this must be a trick" said Kaossandra.

"I don't think this is a trick" said Stealth Elf.

"It's not" said a voice from behind them. It was Cynder she had entered the room and silently approached them.

"My father used to tell me stories when I was young about a Marked being who lived deep in his Crypts. The two tried there best to avoid each other, they lived on a peace treaty. The Marked being would never act out and he would be allowed to live there in peace where no Skylanders could go after him. I guess now that dad is gone their deal no longer stands" said Cynder.

"my god" said Kaossandra. "if a Marked One has returned and has the Claw of Darkness, then there is only one thing that we can do to save everyone".

"what can we do?" said Stealth Elf.

"well to counter the power of the Claw of Darkness, Eon had a powerful relic created to be the opposite of the Claw. This weapon was the Horn of Light, this relic is the only thing that could save us" said Kaossandra.

"where is the Horn of Light, is it in the Relic's Room?" said Stealth Elf.

"no, it's not in the Relic's Room" said Kaossandra. "after the war ended and peace returned to the Skylands Eon had the Horn of Light placed in a vault. The vault was hidden behind six challenges, the entrance to this vault and the challenges was only known to 3 people. Me Eon and the blacksmith who helped create the Horn. However, a few years later the blacksmith passed away, old age. Now Eon's gone and I'm the only one left who knows where the entrance is. If a Marked one is coming back and is going to threaten us, then we will need the Horn of Light".

"well that sounds like a very important mission" said Eruptor. "and you need all the best Skylanders to help you".

"yeah this is threat to all of us, we need to band together and get that Horn of Light" said Stealth Elf.

"yes, we will have to leave pretty soon, we can't waste any time" said Kaossandra. "we need to speak to the other's around the Academy, we could use some more help".

The group turned and left the office so they could return to the grounds of the Academy. The cadets and other Skylanders were all in a huddle outside the main building, they were waiting for information on what just happened. Kaossandra approached the group, they all fell silent and listened as she began to speak.

"Skylanders and Cadets, we have a new threat to face, I need some of the Skylanders to come help us to get rid of this new threat, the rest of you will need to stay here and protect the Academy in case they try to return and threaten us again" said Kaossandra.

Kaossandra turned and faced the group of Skylanders behind her.

"you should go and pack it's going to be quite a journey, we'll leave in one hour" said Kaossandra. The Skylanders nodded in agreement and made their leave to pack for the adventure.

Kaossandra lent against the railing and let out a sigh.

 **The Cadaverous Crypts**

Kai approached the throne to speak to the master.

"Master our spies have confirmed that some of the Skylanders are packing to go somewhere" said Kai.

"Excellent, they must be going for the Horn of Light" said the figure.

"sir is the Horn that important, can't you just attack them now and win?" asked Kai.

"Of course, I could, using the Claw I could conquer them all, but the Horn of Light could challenge me, I don't want to risk someone else finding out where it is and claiming it to use against me. Now when Kaossandra goes to the entrance, I will know where it is and then I can take it away, so it won't ever be a problem" said the figure.

"I understand sir" said Kai.

"they will go for the Horn; the spies will give me the location then I will take it and I will conquer the Skylands unchecked and unchallenged" said the figure. "no-one will stand in my way it is the time of the Mark".

 **Back at the Academy**

The Skylanders returned the main building they had each packed a small bag for the journey. They didn't want to bring much, they would have plenty of battles to fight. The group approached Kaossandra.

"we're ready" said Eruptor.

Kaossandra turned to face them.

"Okay we have a couple more joining us and then we can go" said Kaossandra.

"we're just coming" said a voice from behind Kaossandra. Kaossandra turned to see Kaboom and Terrafin coming towards them.

"excellent we're all here now we can go and get the Horn of Light" said Kaossandra.

The group all turned and began to walk away from the Academy. The group consisted of Kaossandra, Eruptor, Stealth Elf, Pop-Fizz, Jet-Vac, Kaboom, Cynder and Terrafin. Kaossandra thought about trying to contact Kaos but she had no idea where he was. He could be helpful with this new threat. They will just have to deal with the problem themselves. They left the islands of the Skylands and began the long walk, Kaossandra was in front she needed to lead the way.

 **8 hours later**

The sun had mostly set, and night was falling fast. The Skylanders were still journeying on when the night fell. They were keeping an eye out for any signs of an entrance. Kaossandra stopped to address the Skylanders.

"we've walked enough we should rest for tonight and continue in the morning we're not far now and we need to be well rested" said Kaossandra.

The group settled down and made up a camp. Kaboom went out and gathered some wood to burn and Eruptor started a campfire to keep everyone warm. They sat around the campfire and ate some of the food they brought along. After they had finished eating Stealth Elf turned to Kaossandra to ask her something.

"so, we hear all these stories about the great war that took place, what was it like to take part in such a battle?" asked Stealth Elf.

"I can tell you it was the most terrifying time of my life, the constant fighting for your life, never knowing if this day was going to be your last, having to push yourself every minute, it was exhausting and soul crushing. I was so tired, some days I didn't want to get up and fight again it just drained so much of me and Eon and everyone who was involved. I had to do things that will haunt me forever, I killed people, I took them away from their families if they had them, but I had to do it to help the greater good and stop the Skylands from crumbling. The people we lost along the way, sometimes I can still them scream from when they were taken, if I could go back, I don't know if I could through all that again. I can't take back the role I played in that war, I have to live with it for the rest of my life, but at least I helped in the long run" said Kaossandra.

"wow that was very heavy" said Eruptor.

"I think it's best we try to get some sleep" said Kaossandra. With that she laid down and tried to sleep. The other followed suit and soon everyone had fallen asleep.

 **The next morning**

The Skylanders woke up early and quickly packed up their camp. They needed to get back on track as soon as possible. They finished up packing the camp and were off again. The group were still silent from Kaossandra's speech last night. The world they lived in was getting pretty serious the more they grew up. After a couple more, hours of walking they finally reached the entrance. Kaossandra stopped before a giant stone door. The door stood over 30-foot-tall and was made of a thick powerful rock, over the years thick vines had grown all over the door. Kaossandra and the others stepped towards the door and began to pull the vines away. Kaossandra stood back and looked at the door.

"how do we open it?" said Stealth Elf.

Kaossandra pointed towards the door. Right where she was pointed looked like the outline of a handprint etched into the door.

"There were three of those placed when the door was created. One for Eon one for me, and one for the Blacksmith we place our hand on them and the door will open" said Kaossandra. She walked towards the hand outline and calmly placed her hand on it. The hand print began to light up, a light humming sound could be heard coming from the door. Suddenly the ground started to shake. Kaossandra stepped back from the door. The big door began to slowly open. The ground continued to shake. After almost a minute the door had opened. Kaossandra turned to face the Skylanders.

"once we enter the door will shut there will be no going back until we reach the Horn" said Kaossandra.

"we're ready" said Jet-Vac.

Kaossandra nodded and they all entered through the door. Once they all entered the door slowly began to close. As the door closed darkness began to creep over them. The door closed with a deafening thud, there was no going back now. Darkness filled the room, they couldn't see a thing until Eruptor heated up his hands they became like two torches. Now they could see around them. Ahead their first challenge awaits.

Outside one of the spies had watched them enter and was relaying the information to Kai.

"master they have entered the trials" said Kai.

"brilliant now we know where the entrance is, we can claim it for ourselves" said the figure.

"but master we can't enter through the door can we" asked Kai.

"oh, but we can" said the figure.

He lowered his hand down to the side of throne and pulled out a medium sized box. He held the box out in front of him. He beckoned Kai to take it. Kai stepped forward and grabbed the box, he stepped back and lifted the lid, what was inside made him recoil in terror.

"what is this?" asked Kai.

"That is the severed hand of the Blacksmith who created the Horn of Light. I had his tomb raided and the hand taken, take that and use it to gain entry, I trust you can deal with them, and to make sure I'm going to give you something to help" said the Figure. He clicked his fingers and one of the skeleton slaves walked forward with something concealed under a cloth in its hands. the figure took the clothed object and removed the cloth, it was a sword. He held the sword out to Kai.

"this sword will allow you to use magic, use it to defeat the Skylanders, do not fail me" said the Figure.

"I wouldn't dare to master" said Kai.

With that Kai quickly left to assemble some troops a wicked smile stretched across the figures face.

"it won't be long now" said the Figure.

 **End of Chapter 2**


	3. Chapter 3

**Skylanders Academy the Marked Ones**

 **Chapter 3**

Damian and Kai began to make their way to where the Skylanders entered to get the Horn of Light.

"you ready for this Damian?" asked Kai. Gripping his magic sword tightly.

"always ready to smash things" replied Damian.

"that's good, we need to smash things or the master will not be happy" said Kai.

"Damian don't want to make him angry, when master angry he hurt Damian" said Damian.

"then we better move faster" said Kai.

With that the two began to speed up their pace, a large pack of skeletons followed behind them.

 **Inside the Trials of Light**

The Skylanders slowly began to make their way down a darkened corridor, the only light available coming from Eruptor's hands. Kaossandra lead the pack while Eruptor lit the way. Kaboom and Terrafin brought up the rear, with the other Skylanders in the middle. They continued to walk down the corridor for what could have felt like hours, until eventually the walls began to expand, they were getting further and further apart. Suddenly the corridor led them all out into a huge room covered in darkness. The Skylanders stood around not knowing what to do.

Out of nowhere the room lit up with 2 dozen torches illuminating the room in a powerful light. A soft voice spoke out.

"welcome to the trials of light, you have entered here because you wish to gain access to the Horn of Light, in order to do that you must first pass 6 trials, the first you will face very soon" said the voice.

"oh, great trials I hate tests can't we skip this?" said Eruptor.

"no" said the voice.

"oh, she can talk back" said Eruptor.

"I am not a she I am a program designed to talk to you about each trial, you can call me CAL" said CAL.

"well hello CAL" said Eruptor. CAL did not reply.

"you will need to prepare the first trial awaits you" said the CAL.

"what is the first trial Kaossandra?" asked Stealth Elf.

"if memory serves me right it's the trial of knowledge" said Kaossandra.

"correct" said CAL.

"oh, so you'll reply to her" said Eruptor. Again, the voice made no reply.

"whatever" said Eruptor.

After a few long seconds CAL spoke again.

"the trial of knowledge is about to begin" said CAL.

"you will be tested with a series of questions, pass them and you will be able to move onto the next trial" said CAL.

"first question, what is Master Eon's favourite brand of beard spray" said CAL.

The Skylanders stopped and thought for a few seconds before choosing their answer. Suddenly Kaossandra spoke up.

"Perfect Beard" said Kaossandra.

"correct" said CAL.

"that was an easy question" said Eruptor.

"second question, who is the real father of Kaos" said the voice.

"Master Eon" said Kaossandra.

"correct the third question, who created the Claw of Darkness" said CAL.

The group were stumped they had no clue who created the Claw of Darkness.

"I know this one it's on the tip of my tongue" said Kaossandra.

"well hopefully you can remember or else we're stuck before we can begin" said Jet-Vac.

"well shush and let me concentrate so I can remember" said Kaossandra.

"you must answer, or you will fail the trial and be ejected from the Trials of Light" said CAL.

"oh god come on" said Kaossandra. Suddenly she remembered like a light just switched on in her head. "I remember Grima" said Kaossandra.

"Correct" said Cal.

"the fourth and final question will be told as a riddle, you must answer it to complete the trial of knowledge" said CAL.

"You can run but cannot walk. You have a mouth but cannot talk. You have a head but never weep and have a bed but never sleep, what are you" said CAL.

The riddle hit them like a gut punch they never had much experience with riddles.

 **Back outside**

Kai and Damian had finally arrived at the entrance. Kai approached the massive stone door and retrieved the box from a satchel he had slung over his left shoulder. He opened the box and his face twisted in disgust. He slowly picked up the severed hand, Kai wanted so badly to vomit but he had to be strong. He held the severed hand out to the respective hand print and let the door scan it. The hand was accepted. The door began to slowly open twice in one day.

"let's go" said Kai. Kai and Damian waited till the door was open enough and sprinted into the dark corridor.

 **Back with the Skylanders**

Kaboom, Terrafin and Eruptor were all sat on the floor. Stealth Elf and Kaossandra were pacing back and forth trying to work out the riddle. The other Skylanders stood still trying to work it out themselves.

"you must give an answer within the next 2 minutes or you will fail" said CAL.

"yes, we know" said Kaossandra.

"come on guys we have to think of an answer" said Stealth Elf.

"I hate this, why couldn't the challenge be fighting something" said Terrafin.

"its never that easy I'm afraid" said Eruptor.

"you have one minute" said CAL.

Eruptor had had enough.

"we know god damn it" said Eruptor, "you are so annoying I swear to god if I find your power box, I'm going to strip you of all your parts and throw you in a river" said Eruptor.

"hang on Eruptor, what did you say" said Stealth Elf.

"I'm going to throw her in a river" said Eruptor.

"that's it" said Stealth Elf, she quickly shouted out "the answer is a river".

There was a few long seconds as they waited for CAL's reply.

"Correct, congratulations you have passed the Trial of Knowledge" said CAL.

A wall in the room began to move revealing a secret doorway.

"looks like that's the way to go" said Kaossandra.

The Skylanders began to make their way to the door, when suddenly a voice came from behind them.

"I'm afraid that's far enough" said the voice. The group slowly turned to see Kai and Damian enter the room swiftly followed by a pack of about 50 skeletons.

"this is as far as you go" said Kai.

"lots of people here today" said CAL.

"I'm afraid the master wants us to stop you" said Kai.

"who is your master?" said Kaossandra.

"no-one knows of his name, we do not dare ask any questions that may anger the master, if the master is angry then pain will follow" said Kai.

"sounds like you don't want to follow him so why don't you leave and just run" said Kaossandra.

"because the master will find us and he will make us regret it if we do" said Kai, "enough talk". The enemies charged at the Skylanders.

"everyone to battle" said Kaossandra.

The two groups charged and collided with each other. Kaossandra began to fire blasts of magic in all directions knocking skeletons around like play toys. Damian and Kaboom started their rematch. Kaboom landed a quick right hand, but Damian was unfazed. The Goliath responded with a powerful right hand of his own that knocked the big Skylander back. Terrafin appeared from behind Kaboom and vaulted over his body before landing a powerful right hand. The punch distracted Damian enough for Kaboom to come back with another punch this time he threw all his strength into one punch. The punch connected knocking Damian off his feet.

"who's the weak one now" said Kaboom.

Damian tried to climb back up but was met with another punch this time from Terrafin. The punch knocked one of his teeth out. The Goliath put his hand to his mouth to feel around for the missing tooth. Meanwhile Stealth Elf had focused her attention on Kai. The young man was summoning blasts of lightning from his sword. He swung the blade once and zapped Jet-Vac who was flying around the battle trying to blast enemies. Stealth Elf teleported to him and attempted to attack him only to be hit by a bolt of lightning

"I saw that coming little elf" said Kai.

"did you see this" said Kaossandra from behind.

Kaossandra summoned a huge blast of magic and struck him from behind, sending Kai flying forwards. Quick as a flash Kai dropped a smoke bomb.

"oh god not this again" said Stealth Elf.

"retreat, their too strong" said Kai. The smoke cleared and they could see the enemies running for the entrance.

"they're retreating" said Stealth Elf. "now we can keep moving".

The Skylanders turned to the second door and were eager to continue their journey.

 **End of Chapter 3**


	4. Chapter 4

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 4**

The Skylanders cautiously walked through the door to make their way to the second trial. The further they walked the lower the light got until the light from the first room was miniscule, the Skylanders were now back in complete darkness. Eruptor again used his hands to illuminate their surroundings.

"why are the tunnels so dark?" asked Eruptor.

"well if you want to help protect something you try to reduce their ability to see where they're going" replied Kaossandra leading the way.

"that's smart" said Stealth Elf.

The Skylanders continued to walk when all of a sudden, a loud growl filled the tunnel.

"what was that" said Stealth Elf getting into an attack position.

"sorry that was my stomach" said Terrafin, "fighting makes me hungry" he added.

"well we don't have much food left, we'll have to ration it carefully, we don't know how long we could be in here" said Stealth Elf.

"we should be close soon" said Kaossandra, she was eager to keep them focused.

"right" said Stealth Elf.

 **Cadaverous Crypts**

"why have you come to me, when you have failed your mission" said the figure.

"Master they were too powerful, we had to retreat" said Kai.

"and yet you thought it good to return to me instead of running" said the figure.

"we knew there was no way to escape master, you'd get us eventually" said Kai.

"true but then you would have lived longer" said the figure.

"please master give me another chance" said Kai.

The figure slightly raised his right hand.

"skeleton maid" said the figure.

A skeleton appeared from behind his throne and came out so his master could see him properly. The skeleton bowed in front of it's master.

"yes master" said the skeleton.

"bring me some tea" said the figure.

"yes master" said the skeleton, the skeleton quickly walked away to fetch the masters tea. When the skeleton was gone the figure, hand returned to his resting place on his throne. The figure merely stared at Kai from under his hood.

"I gave you a magic sword to help you fight, was it for nothing" said the figure.

"don't worry master I just need to use it better" said Kai. "next time I won't fail you".

"now how can I believe that when you were so eager to run away before" said the figure.

Kai merely stood in place twiddling his thumbs, he was desperately thinking of what to say to appease his master.

"ah trying to think of a way out" said the figure. "pathetic when you fail, you stand tall and accept your failure, learning from failure is how everyone gets better".

"I, I, I accept that I failed, and it was my fault master" said Kai.

"Kai, you are merely trying to make me happy, that's even more pathetic than trying to make excuses" said the figure.

The skeleton returned with a tray, a cup with tea in it, a little jug for milk a spoon to stir the tea and a small bowl full of sugar cubes. The figure slowly stretched out a hand and grasped a sugar cube with his long thin fingers. He picked the cube up and dropped in to the tea, the figure repeated this action two more times. He then slowly stirred the tea with the spoon before grasping the cup and lifting it off the tray. He brought the cup to his lips and took a slow sip.

"that is good tea" said the figure.

Suddenly he made a quick grabbing action with his left hand. A large black hand appeared and clasped itself around Kai's body squeezing the air out of his lungs.

"ah, ah, ah" said Kai he could barely speak.

"you failed me Kai, I can't have failure can I" said the figure before taking another sip of his tea.

"n, n, nooo master" Kai managed to just choke out the words. He could feel the pressure on his ribs, he was starting to go blue in the face.

"I should kill you, but you have proven useful to me before, maybe I should give you a second chance" said the figure.

The hand disappeared and Kai dropped to the floor, taking in quick sharp breaths, desperately trying to get air back in his lungs. The figure stuck out a single finger.

"one last chance Kai, or your punishment won't be so light" said the figure.

"yes master" said Kai.

The figure returned to drinking his tea.

 **Back in the Trials of Light**

The Skylanders had finally arrived at the second trial. Like the first trial the room lit up when they entered it.

"hello and welcome to the second Trial of Light" said CAL.

"oh, great it's her again" said Eruptor.

The Skylanders looked around something was different this room was much smaller than the first, there was barely enough room for all of them to walk around.

"welcome to the Trial of Dreams" said CAL.

"the Trial of Dreams what's that?" said Jet-Vac.

"this trial will see you tested by your very dreams, in your dream you will be tested, and you pass the test to complete the trial" said CAL.

Suddenly a gas started to fill the room, Terrafin tried to leave but the door shut behind him.

"Sorry but you cannot leave" said CAL.

The gas started to fill up the room and one by one the Skylanders all fell asleep.

"ah" shouted Stealth Elf. Stealth Elf was stood in an arena with a huge audience in front of her. The crowd was cheering her name.

"where am I" she said. Suddenly a voice came from above it was Kaossandra.

"and now the greatest elf that ever lived, Stealth Elf will show us her legendary skills" said Kaossandra. Massive steel doors opened around the arena releasing a dozen Drow elves. Stealth Elf readied for a fight.

Kaossandra woke up in her dream, she looked around and saw she was back in her castle. The castle was back in one piece. She walked to a nearby balcony and peered outside. She saw Kaos walking into his outhouse.

"this is definitely a dream, because my castle is back in one piece" said Kaossandra. "I need to wait for my test". She returned to the inside of the castle and found the nearest seat. "guess all I can do is wait" she said.

Jet-Vac dreamed he was winning an award for greatest teacher. Terrafin dreamed he was entering a boxing contest. Eruptor dreamed he was in his kitchen cooking pancakes, Pop-fizz dreamed he was back in his band with Wolfgang, the two were rocking out on stage to an adoring crowd. Kaboom dreamed he was in the gym working out, and finally Cynder dreamed she was in the Cadaverous Crypts with her father Malefor. When she saw her father tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

"Cynder what ever is the matter" said Malefor.

"I wish you were really here with me, we may not have seen eye to eye on our beliefs, but I need you" said Cynder. She stepped forward and hugger her father's stomach.

"oh, my dear Cynder, I won't ever leave you" said Malefor.

She buried her face into his chest and wept.

Back with Stealth Elf. She had just finished dealing with the Drow Elves. They all fell before her superior ninja skills. The raucous crowd screamed her name eager for more.

"was this the test" she said to herself. "I have to fight in an arena, I'm loving this dream". Just then more Drow Elves entered the arena.

In Kaossandra's dream what felt like hours had slowly ticked by. She was growing inpatient.

"when am I getting tested" she said in a huff. Just then Kaos entered the room.

"mother come on I have a lovely picnic planned for us both" said Kaos.

"uh a picnic sounds lovely" said Kaossandra. The two left the room and headed outside to have a picnic.

In Terrafin's dream he just finished off an easy opponent and had made his way to the final round for the championship. He entered the ring for the final round and saw he was fighting a Goliath elf for the title.

"I am Gror the champ, no way I'm losing my title to a pipsqueak" said Gror.

The bell dinged and the two moved towards each other. Gror swung a hard right, Terrafin swerved to the left and dodged the punch. He stepped forward and landed a left hook to Gror's ribs. Gror clutched his side and swung a left hook. Terrafin ducked underneath and this time punched him in ribs again. Gror staggered back he needed to plan.

Back in Kaossandra's dream she had laid down on the grass next to Kaos. Kaos quickly pulled a hamper towards them.

"I packed some delicious sandwiches for us mother" said Kaos.

"you made food Kaos, wow this is such a nice dream" said Kaossandra.

"yeah you may never want to wake up" said Kaos handing her a sandwich.

"your right" said Kaossandra gracefully accepting the sandwich.

"what's in the sandwich?" asked Kaossandra.

"cheese and ham" said Kaos.

"simple and delicious" said Kaossandra. She quickly ate her sandwich and closed her eyes, she certainly didn't want to wake up from this dream.

Back in Terrafin's dream the fight was still going on, Gror had still yet to land a punch. Gror decided the best action was to just over power the enemy. He sprinted forward swinging multiple heavy punches. Terrafin managed to dodge them all and landed a superman punch to Gror's face. As Gror tried to recover Terrafin with a ferocious uppercut that knocked the goliath out cold and winning the title. The referee handed him the title and Terrafin raised the title above his head.

"yeah I'm the champion" said Terrafin.

In Stealth Elf's dream she finished off her second wave of opponents and eagerly looked at the adoring crowd. Her eyes caught something. Spyro was in the crowd. He was cheering along with the fans. She looked down at her feet, her happiness fading.

"this is just a dream Spyro's not here" said Stealth Elf.

"hey elf" said a voice in front of her.

She looked up and saw Spyro approaching her. She ran forward and grabbed him in a deep hug.

"where the hell have you been" she said.

"woah loosen the grip please, I can't breathe" said Spyro.

Stealth Elf let him go and beamed at seeing Spyro again.

"god I missed you" said Stealth Elf.

Back in Kaossandra's dream her eyes shot open.

"that's it, that's the test" she said.

"mother" said Kaos.

"we're put in a perfect dream one of which we never want to leave, we have to let it go and wake up to finish the test" said Kaossandra.

"mother" said Kaos.

"I'm sorry Kaos but I have to leave" said Kaossandra.

"I know, I'm just your conscious" said Kaos.

With that Kaossandra woke up back in the second trial and went about trying to wake everyone else up from their dreams. In her dream Stealth Elf felt herself getting ripped away from Spyro. she tried to desperately grab his hand, she didn't want to see him go again.

"don't worry Elfy, we'll see each other again" said Spyro winking at her before he disappeared. Stealth Elf woke up to see Kaossandra shaking her body.

"thank god your awake" said Kaossandra. "can you help me wake the others".

"yeah sure" said Stealth Elf shaking the thoughts of Spyro from her head. The two of them went about slowly waking the others from their dreams.

In Cynder's dream she felt a tense change in atmosphere.

"I'm sorry Cynder, but our time is over, you must go back and help the other's" said Malefor. Cynder could feel her mind being dragged away.

"I wish you were still here, like really here and not just in my mind" she said.

"I'm sorry Cynder, look's like we'll have to make do with dreams" said Malefor. He leant down and kissed Cynder's head.

"remember that I love you, and whatever you do I'm proud of you" said Malefor.

"thanks dad" said Cynder choking back tears.

Cynder was the last one to wake up from her dream. The other's were waiting for her.

"congratulations, you have passed the Trial of Dreams, you may now move on to the third challenge" said CAL. Another door opened revealing the path to the third challenge. Cynder wiped away tears and followed the others through the door.

 **End of Chapter 4**


	5. Chapter 5

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 5**

The Skylanders had successfully passed the first two Trials of Light, they only needed to pass four more to obtain the Horn of Light.

"well at least we're a third of the way there" said Eruptor as the group made their way to the third trial.

"we'll have the Horn of Light in to time" said Jet-Vac.

"will the Horn really help us defeat this Marked One" said Stealth Elf.

"yes" said Kaossandra. "without it we won't stand a chance against a Marked One, especially if it's true and they have the Claw of Darkness with them".

"why didn't you guys just store the Horn in the Relic's Room?" asked Eruptor.

"The Horn is one of the most powerful artefacts in the Skylands we needed to protect it as best as we could, the Horn is like the Fist of Arkus, you wield it you could rule the Skylands, so we built these series of trials to protect it" said Kaossandra.

"seems a little excessive but I guess it is important" said Eruptor.

"yeah, okay shouldn't be too far to the third trial" said Kaossandra.

"can you remember what this trial is?" said Stealth Elf.

"yes, this is the Trial of Power" said Kaossandra.

"guess we going to be doing a lot of fighting" said Eruptor,

"Good I've been waiting to punch something" said Terrafin.

"this Trial is designed to tire us out, so we won't have much energy to carry on through the last three trials" said Kaossandra.

 **Cadaverous Crypts**

In the Marked One's throne room, the Marked One had just finished his tea and was thinking. He would send Kai to confront the Skylanders again, but he feared that he didn't have the courage to fight them to the end as he wanted. Suddenly an idea entered his mind.

"skeleton fetch me my book" said the Marked One. A skeleton to his left made haste to fetch his book.

"Kai come here" said the Marked One.

Kai carefully approached the throne and bowed before his master.

"yes, master what can I do for you" said Kai.

"I spared you so I could give you a second chance at making me happy, that chance is now" said the Marked One. He held his left hand out to his side. The skeleton had returned and placed a medium sized black book in his hand. He held the book in front of him and opened it. He began to search through the pages till he found the spell he wanted. A transformation spell. He began to concentrate; his right hand began to glow.

"AGNAGA" shouted the Marked One firing a blast of magic directly at Kai. The blast hit the elf and knocked him onto his back. He started to convulse and twitch on the ground. The elf looked at his right hand, the hand began to change shape.

"what's happening to me" said Kai. The Marked One sat on his throne watching the transformation with a smile on his face.

"I've made you better Kai, now you won't fail me" said the Marked One. Kai continued to transform into something else. He felt something growing out his sides, the pain was excruciating. Whatever he was changing into was bigger than Kai much bigger. After a few long agonising minutes, the spell had finished.

"What am I" said Kai. Damian handed him a mirror. He looked at his reflection, the person looking back at him was not Kai. He had transformed into tall grey Frankenstein, with four arms.

"what have you done to me" said Kai.

"like I said I made you better, now go after those Skylanders, and if you fail don't you dare come back to me" said the Marked One.

 **Back with the Skylanders**

They finally arrived at the third trial. The path lead out to what looked like an arena.

"hello contestants welcome to the third Trial" said CAL. "here you will have to put your endurance and fighting capabilities to the test, please step out into the arena".

The group listened to CAL and walked into the centre of the arena. The ground began to shake, the edges of the room began to lower into the ground forming a pit all around the ring.

"great we're stuck" said Eruptor.

"if we pass the trial we can move on" said Stealth Elf.

The walls of the room began to slide open revealing a large group of statues. The statues were in the shape of Elves. Once the walls finished opening the stating began to slowly come to life.

"you must defeat all the enemies to complete the trial" said CAL.

The statues jumped down onto the arena and approached the Skylanders. Stealth Elf teleported forward and tried to kick one of the statues. She kicked the statue as hard as she could, but her foot just bounced off the statue. Her foot stung from the kick.

"ow" said Stealth Elf. She retreated to the Skylanders.

"you okay Elfy" said Eruptor.

"I'll be fine, they're just a lot tougher than I thought" said Stealth Elf.

"alright stay with Kaossandra we'll take the lead" said Terrafin. "I've been waiting for this, now I'm happy". Terrafin stepped forward and dove into the ground. Digging underneath the earth and approaching the statues. He waited till he was directly underneath the statues before unleashing his attack. He sprung out from under the earth and landed a powerful ground pound on one of the statues shattering it to pieces. Two more statues tried to attack him, but we're plucked off the ground by Kaboom. He slammed the two statues together sending stone splinters in all directions.

He chucked one of the statues over to Terrafin who landed a powerful right hand shattering the statue into fragments. Another wall on the other side of the arena opened revealing more statues. The statues dropped down behind the Skylanders, now they had enemies on two sides.

"oh, bugger their coming from this side now" said Eruptor.

Kaossandra stepped forward and started throwing ice spells at the statues. The statues were waking up and were able to start moving faster. The statues started to dodge the ice spells.

"get ready to fight everyone" said Kaossandra. The rest of the Skylanders readied themselves.

"how many statues are there" said Eruptor.

"I count thirty statues" said Stealth Elf. On the one side Kaboom and Terrafin were fighting statues, the rest of the Skylanders would deal with these statues. Kaossandra hit one of the statues freezing it in place Stealth Elf threw another kick hoping the ice would help. It did the ice allowed her to shatter the statue.

"one down" said Stealth Elf.

The fight continued, Kaboom and Terrafin had managed to deal with their statues quite quickly, their strength allowed them to break the statues quite easily.

"puny statues" said Kaboom.

"you guys are making quick work of the statues, too bad that's just the first challenge" said CAL.

"what do you mean" said Stealth Elf as they finished off the last few statues.

A third wall opened revealing several rows of dog statues. The statues creaked into live letting out a series of quite but deep barks.

"oh boy dogs, why did it have to be dogs" said Eruptor.

The dogs started to hop down onto the arena and slowly stalk towards the Skylanders. Terrafin and Kaboom stood at the front.

"I like dogs, I don't want to hurt them" said Kaboom. A dog statue jumped forward and latched onto his thick arm.

"oh bugger, stuff these dogs" said Kaboom. He ripped the statue dog off his arm, the teeth dug in quite deep drawing blood. He threw the dog into the ground and stamped on it breaking it into pieces.

"get ready for round 2" said Kaossandra. The Skylanders charged at the dogs and entered a second battle. Stealth Elf teleported in between a couple of dogs distracted them allowing Kaossandra to hit them with ice spells. Stealth Elf then landed a spinning kick to both shattering two more dogs. They were making quick work of the new enemies. One of the dogs pounced on Pop-Fizz pinning him to the ground, Pop grabbed one his vials and shoved it down the statues throat. The vial shattered releasing the potion inside it's body. The potion cause the statue to start to melt to the ground. Only a few dogs remained. Terrafin grabbed one of the dogs preventing it from biting him.

"oh, heck no, I don't need any rabies" said Terrafin. He punched the statue repeatedly till its head shattered. Just as they dealt with the last dog a fourth and final wall began to open.

"now for the final round" said CAL.

The wall opened. A large hand slowly crept out grabbing the edge of the wall and pulling itself free. The thing landed on the arena shaking the very ground. The final enemy was a 30-foot statue.

"roarrrrr" said the statue. The statue reached over it's shoulder pulling out a huge mace.

"scatter" shouted Kaossandra. The statue drove the mace into the ground right where the Skylanders were. The Skylanders ran off in different directions trying to attack it from multiple sides. Eruptor, Kaossandra and Pop-Fizz attacked it from afar using their weapons. The attacks did little damage. The statue was too big. It lifted the mace up again and tried to strike Stealth Elf. She teleported out of the way. Terrafin sprinted towards the creature and began to climb up it's body. When he reached the shoulder, he leapt forward and punched it on the jaw. The blow barely fazed the statue. The statue lifted its left hand and caught Terrafin in it's grip. It threw Terrafin into the ground with tremendous force. The Skylander struggled to move when he hit the ground.

"damn it" said Kaossandra. She continued to throw ice spells trying to freeze the big guy. They needed a plan quickly.

"Kaboom distract him" said Kaossandra.

"no problem" said Kaboom.

"Pop-Fizz can you make us a big explosive potion?" asked Kaossandra.

"of course, that's easy as toast" said Pop-Fizz.

"alright make one quickly" said Kaossandra.

Pop Fizz began to fidget around with his potions mixing them together.

"touch of green, dash of red, hint of blue, shake it together and here we go" said Pop-Fizz holding out a potion that was fizzing like mad.

"okay, we're going to try and knock him into the pit around the arena" said Kaossandra. "Elf you and Kaboom distract him, I'll charge up a powerful spell, then Po-Fizz will hit him with the potion, and I should be able to finish him off, is that okay".

"Understood" said Stealth Elf teleporting away to join Kaboom.

They waited for a few minutes until the statue got it's mace stuck in the ground again.

"now" shouted Kaossandra. Pop-Fizz threw his potion at the statue as Kaossandra charged up a spell. The potion connected with the statue's body exploding on impact and shaking the arena. The statue staggered backwards and was just a few feet from the edge. Just before it could recover Kaossandra unleashed all her energy into a lightning bolt. The attack struck dead on sending the statue back the last few feet. The statue hit the pit, and, in an instance, it was gone. The statue disappeared into the darkness.

"It's over, we won" said Kaossandra.

"Congratulations you have completed the Trial of Power, you are now halfway there" said CAL.

A part of the ground came back up connecting the arena to the walls. A door opened showing the way.

"we should rest after this, we need to regain our strength" said Kaossandra.

"agreed I think Terrafin needs some rest" said Eruptor. Terrafin got back to his feet and limped through the door.

"oh, my leg, that's going to be sore in the morning" said Terrafin. The Skylanders walked through the door and rested before they continued to the fourth trial.

 **End of Chapter 5**


	6. Chapter 6

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 6**

The Skylanders were now halfway through the trials of Light just three more to go and they would get their hands on the Horn of Light. The Skylanders were still resting before making their way out of the third trial and towards the fourth. Outside the entrance to the trials Kai had returned. He still had the mirror that was given to him when he first transformed.

"I'm a monster" said Kai.

Damian came from his side and patted him on the shoulder.

"it will be okay, maybe if we complete this mission and defeat the Skylanders he'll be happy and turn you back into you" said Damian.

"I hope so Damian" said Kai.

The two headed into the Trials to catch up with the Skylanders.

The Skylanders themselves had decided they were rested up enough and began to journey towards the fourth trial of light.

"what do you guys think this next trial will be?" asked Eruptor.

"could be anything, do you have any idea Kaossandra?" asked Stealth Elf.

"I'm trying to remember now it's been so long I could just about remember the first few trials but these I can't remember a thing really" said Kaossandra.

"great guess that means we're walking in blind" said Eruptor.

"looks that way" said Kaossandra.

The Skylanders pressed on, eager to get to the fourth trial.

"I'm surprised this Marked One hasn't come to try and stop us" said Stealth Elf.

"maybe he can't enter" said Eruptor.

"what do you mean Eruptor?" asked Stealth Elf.

"well he's a being of darkness, and this place is called the trials of light, kind of obvious that he may not be able to enter, probably why he sent those skeletons after us, and that Drow Elf" said Eruptor.

"that kind of makes sense" said Stealth Elf.

Eventually the Skylanders arrived at a huge ancient stone door. Spiderwebs coated the door.

"Looks like it hasn't been opened in a long time" said Eruptor.

"many years" said Kaossandra.

The group waited for Cal's voice to appear, and sure enough after a few seconds that robotic female voice spoke again.

"Congrats you have now reached the fourth trial; this trial will be different from the last few trials" said CAL.

"how different" said Eruptor, with a hint of anger in his voice.

"less attitude please, this trial will not be a fight, or a test of intelligence, this is the test of the maze" said CAL.

"ah crud a maze" said Terrafin.

"but this maze will be different from other mazes you will separated into groups and be made to navigate the maze, fail and you will wonder all your days, pass and you will exit the maze into the next trial of light" said CAL.

"so that's it we just have to pass a silly maze, piece of cake" said Stealth Elf.

"don't get your hopes up the maze has surprises in store" said CAL.

"how are the groups picked?" asked Kaossandra.

Just then beams of light came down from the ceiling hitting Skylanders at random, as soon as the beam hit them, they vanished into dust. The first group was Terrafin, Cynder and Pop-Fizz.

"woah, so its ad random I guess" said Stealth Elf.

The beams came down again, this time taking, Eruptor, Kaboom and Jet-Vac. They would be the second group. Leaving Stealth Elf and Kaossandra as the third and final group.

"guess we're on our own Elf" said Kaossandra.

The beams did not return for them instead the ancient doors slowly opened to them allowing them to enter the maze themselves without being beamed in. The other two groups finally reappeared, they were dumped into a random place inside the vast maze. The hedges were 20 feet tall and seem to be made of impenetrable vines and twigs.

"alright I guess we'd better start walking" said Eruptor.

Kaboom and Jet-vac nodded in agreement. The trio started to walk around corners quickly finding themselves at a dead end.

"oh, great back we go" said Eruptor.

Meanwhile the first group of Cynder, Fizz and Terrafin started to make their way through the maze, but they weren't faring any better, soon they too were hitting dead ends.

"dang it" said Cynder.

Pop-Fizz was trying to climb through the hedge walls but had no luck.

"we could eat our way through" said Pop. He took a bite of a twig and immediately spit it out.

"yuck tastes like tar" said Pop-Fizz.

"how do you know what tar tastes like?" asked Cynder.

"I don't know" replied Pop-Fizz.

"whatever let's just get back to finding the exit" said Terrafin.

They continued to slowly work through the hedge. As they were doing that Stealth Elf and Kaossandra were making good progress, Elf's power to teleport allowed her to check multiple routes quickly.

"wow I guess I got another good use for teleportation" said Stealth Elf with a happy smile on her face.

"yep, so while we're all alone, how about some girl talk" said Kaossandra.

"girl talk about what" said Stealth Elf.

"what's going on between you and Spyro, well before he left" said Kaossandra.

"well we were close friends, I guess we were more than that" said Stealth Elf.

"did you kiss" asked Kaossandra.

"yes, we kissed on the night of the fireworks" said Stealth Elf, she was blushing from embarrassment as she spoke.

"ah little elf's growing up" teased Kaossandra.

"well now I don't know what we are since he's gone" said Stealth Elf.

"I'm sure he'll come back one day and then you guys can sort it out then" said Kaossandra.

"thanks" said Stealth Elf.

"your welcome now let's get out of this maze" said Kaossandra.

Just then the ground started to rumble.

"what was that, I thought CAL said there would be no fighting" said Stealth Elf.

"maybe she forgot" said Kaossandra.

The ground behind them crumbled away, continuing to crumble in a line heading right for them. The two looked back at it and realised what's happening.

"run" shouted Kaossandra.

The two sprinted away desperate to keep ahead of the ground, and to avoid falling into the abyss. The old ground continued to crumble, they turned a corner right into a dead end.

"oh, dang what are we gonna do" said Kaossandra.

The ground was quickly disappearing beneath their feet. Stealth Elf quickly came up with an idea.

"quick hold on to the hedges" shouted Stealth Elf.

The two grabbed the hedges and felt the ground completely collapse underneath their feet. They held on for dear life. Their feet dangling above the darkness.

"now we climb" said Stealth Elf.

She brought her feet up onto the hedge, she tried to find somewhere to get a good grip with her feet. Kaossandra quickly followed suit. The two slowly shuffled across the gap in the ground using the twigs as support. Eventually the two returned to where the ground started to collapse, they found where the hole stopped and finally put their down on solid ground.

"well that was eventful" said Kaossandra, she was short of breath from all the climbing and shimmying.

"yeah hopefully that little incident means we're on the right track" said Stealth Elf.

At the entrance to the maze, Kai and Damian finally arrived. The Skylanders made it easy for them to pass the trials, since the trials hadn't reset yet.

"well at least we didn't have to worry about passing the tests" said Kai.

"yeah these Skylanders are doing most of the work for us" said Damian.

Back with Eruptor, he was getting really annoyed as he hit another dead end.

"enough of this" said Eruptor.

He launched two lava blobs at the hedges attempting to burn his way through. The hedge didn't even catch fire, the blobs just disintegrated as soon as they came into contact.

"ah magic" said Eruptor.

"why don't you just fly birdman" said Kaboom.

"hey that's not a bad idea Kaboom" said Jet-Vac.

Jet-Vac fired up his jetpack and lifted off the ground. He attempted to fly over the hedge only to hit an invisible wall face first. He fell back down to earth and was caught by Kaboom before he hit the ground.

"ha-ha nice try" laughed CAL.

"jerk" said Eruptor.

"come on we can find our way out without our powers" said Jet-Vac.

As they turned the corner, they saw something interesting, an egg.

"what the heck is an egg doing in the middle of a maze" said Jet-Vac.

"no idea let's check it out" said Kaboom.

The trio approached the egg, as they got closer the egg started to vibrate.

"whoa it's shaking" said Eruptor.

"yeah let's leave it alone" said Jet-Vac.

Just then the egg slowly opened.

"I think I saw this in a horror movie once, just to be safe don't stick your face over it" said Eruptor.

"duly noted" said Jet-Vac.

A small spider climbed out.

"ug it's a spider, I hate creepy crawlies" said Kaboom.

"well lets just get back on track" said Jet-Vac.

As they turned away something extraordinary happened. The spider quickly began to grow, soon it was nearly twenty times it size. In no time at all the spider was now almost ten feet tall. It's legs hit the ground with a loud thud stopping the trio in their tracks. They slowly turned around in horror to see the monstrous spider behind them.

"oh, he grew up quick" said Eruptor.

The creature let out a terrifying shriek and darted towards them. It quickly knocked Eruptor and Jet-Vac to the side with its legs before tackling Kaboom pushing him into the ground, it tried to bite him, but Kaboom held onto its pincers stopping it from biting him.

"get off me, you freak" shouted Kaboom.

From the side the spider was struck by a blob of lava, the spider recoiled in pain.

"oi Aragog forget about me" said Eruptor. He quickly fired off more shots forcing the spider to back away.

Elsewhere the other Skylanders heard the shriek of the spider and were quickly following the source, hoping they'd find their friends. Pretty soon Stealth Elf and Kaossandra had finally made it to the source of the noise, they saw the big spider up ahead being kept at a distance by Eruptor's fire blasts. Suddenly the spider retaliated with it's own attack it began to spit acidic blobs at Eruptor.

"oh boy" shouted Eruptor jumping to the side dodging the acid.

Just then he noticed the new arrivals.

"Kaossandra, Elfy nice to see you again" said Eruptor.

Behind him Jet-Vac attacked the spider with his gun. The attacks barely grazed the creature. Kaossandra threw an ice blast at one of it's legs freezing it, Stealth Elf teleported forward kicking the leg and causing it to shatter into pieces. The spider let out a screech of pain as one of it's legs were gone. The spider turned and aimed it's acid spit at the hedge, for some reason its acid worked melting away at the hedge allowing it to pass through.

"wow I guess something does work on this hedge" said Jet-Vac.

"should we go after it" said Eruptor.

"nah best to leave it be" said Kaossandra.

"I thought CAL said there would be fighting" said Stealth Elf.

"I lied, if I told you the truth it would ruin some of the mazes surprises" said CAL.

"that voice is really getting on my nerves" said Eruptor.

"come on we can't be too far from the exit" said Stealth Elf.

True enough to what Stealth Elf just said, as they passed through the hole in the hedge, they could see the exit over a nearby hedge.

"it's right there" said Stealth Elf.

The now larger group quickly took off for the exit. Now they just had to find Cynder, Pop-Fizz and Terrafin. However, they didn't need to they were already there at the exit.

"how the heck did you guys get here" said Stealth Elf.

"Terrafin, somehow the magic didn't affect underneath the hedge, so he just tunnelled under them until he found the exit" said Cynder. She pointed towards a hole in the ground.

"dang why weren't you on our team, we could have used that to avoid the giant spider" laughed Eruptor.

"giant spider" said Cynder.

"yep, now let's go we're almost there" said Eruptor.

Elsewhere Damian and Kai rounded a corner to see the giant spider tending to its missing leg.

"ah look at this poor guy, guessing he had a run in with some Skylanders" said Kai.

"yep, shame" said Damian.

The spider noticed them however it did not attack, clearly it learned from it's last encounter.

"leave it or kill it" said Damian.

"leave it we can't be distracted" said Kai.

The two ignored the spider and continued to hunt the Skylanders.

 **End of Chapter 6**


	7. Chapter 7

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 7**

As the Skylanders quickly made their way to the fifth Trial of Light, an unsettling feeling had grown in the air, like they were being followed by something.

"is it just me or am I the only one who feels like their being followed" said Stealth Elf.

"yeah I feel it too Elfy, like a tingle on the back of my neck" said Eruptor.

"I have no idea what's going on, but I know it can't be good" said Kaossandra.

"we should hurry up" said Stealth Elf.

"that's a good idea" said Eruptor.

The Skylanders quickened their pace, they took long strides to get to the next trial faster. Just a couple of hundred feet behind them were Kai and Damian.

"they're close" whispered Kai.

"I know I can smell them" whispered Damian.

"we cannot fail" whispered Kai readying himself for a fight.

"I know" whispered Damian, he did not need to be reminded.

Back with the Skylanders they had soon arrived at the next trial. They entered a small room that just about fit the whole group in.

"this is a tight squeeze" complained Eruptor. He barely had enough to move his arms.

"hello contestants, you have now reached the penultimate trial" said CAL.

"what's the test this time" said Eruptor.

"the penultimate trial, is the trial of fear" said CAL.

"fear" said Eruptor.

"soon all of you will tested by confronting your deepest fears, to pass this trial you must confront these fears" said CAL.

"why would we need to do that" said Eruptor.

"because only a person with a heart of light can wield the Horn, if you have a fear of something or darkness in your heart it won't work" said Kaossandra.

"make's sense" said Eruptor.

"you will all enter the soon to open chamber, one by one and you will be taken and tested" said CAL.

After a few seconds of silence, the rock wall slide up revealing a hallway.

"one of you may now enter" said CAL.

"who's going first" said Eruptor.

"I'll go first" said Kaossandra.

She stepped forward into the hallway, the door quickly closed behind her. A fog slowly filled the room and soon Kaossandra vanished into thin air. The door opened again.

"she's gone" said Jet-Vac.

"my turn" said Terrafin.

He entered and soon he was gone too. One by one they all vanished into the fog ready to face their darkest fears. Just as the last Skylander entered the chamber, Kai and Damian entered the room. They saw the door shut behind the last Skylander.

"well they've entered the next trial, let's go join them" said Kai.

"Right behind you" said Damian.

The door opened as they approached.

"one at a time please" said CAL.

"see you on the other side Damian" said Kai.

Soon the two of them were also facing the Trial of Fear.

Kaossandra awoke with a start. She was sat on a small island.

"where am I" said Kaossandra standing up.

She looked around the sky was pitch black. An evil laugh came from behind her. She quickly turned around to see Kaos standing with Strykore.

"hello mother" said Kaos.

"Kaos what are you doing?" asked Kaossandra.

"I decided what I really am, I realised I'm evil, I rescued Strykore and together we destroyed the Core of Light and have brought darkness to the Skylands" said Kaos.

"Kaos you can't believe that" said Kaossandra backing away from the pair.

"oh, I do mother, everyone's fallen but you, now join us or you will be destroyed" said Kaos.

"no" said Kaossandra.

She turned and jumped off the island, she felt the wind on her face as she fell through the sky, below her she could see another island coming up to meet her. She let out a blast of magic the force slowed down her falling speed enough for her to land safely.

"going somewhere" said a voice from behind her. She turned around to see Kaos and Strykore again.

"you can't escape us sweetheart" said Strykore.

"you have darkness in you, the magic wasn't the only reason you turned evil, there was always a darkness inside you" said Kaos.

"no, the magic made me evil, I loved Eon and we protected the innocent" said Kaossandra.

"you don't believe that Kaossandra" said Strykore.

"I'm not evil, not anymore" said Kaossandra.

"give in be with us" said Strykore.

He stretched out a hand for her to grab. She lifted her hand contemplating her response, she shook her head.

"nooo" shouted Kaossandra. She attacked him with a spell knocking him back. the world around her crumbled and she soon woke up, this time in a large room, the other Skylanders around her and then she saw Damian and Kai.

"who are you, I recognise the other one that's that stupid Goliath" said Kaossandra. A few minutes later Kaboom and Terrafin woke up.

"we passed" said Kaboom.

What were your fears?" asked Kaossandra.

"my fear was that I lost all my strength and couldn't fight" said Terrafin.

"my fear was that I failed to manage the defence and the Academy was destroyed by my incompetence" said Kaboom.

"it's great you conquered your fears" said Kaossandra.

"now we wait for the others" said Kaboom.

They all turned to look at the other's who were asleep.

In Stealth Elf's mind she woke up in a small room. There were baby toys littering the floor and a crib.

"what is this place" said Stealth Elf. It looked vaguely familiar.

"hello sweetie" said a voice from the corner of the room.

She saw two shadows but couldn't see who they were.

"who are you" asked Stealth Elf.

"it's Mummy and Daddy, remember sweetheart" said the female shadow.

"mum, dad" said Stealth Elf.

"that's right sweetie, we're your parents" said the female shadow.

"why did you leave me" said Stealth Elf.

"we didn't want you, you were just a burden on us, too weak to live with us, so we dumped you in a tree" said the male shadow.

"that's not true" said Stealth Elf.

"it's true sweetie, we left you because your pathetic" said the female shadow.

"I'm not pathetic" said Stealth Elf lightly.

"yes, you are, that's why your parents abandoned you" said the male shadow.

"you have no family, you're a no-body" said the female voice.

The words repeated in her head. Stealth Elf covered her ears trying to block them out.

"leave me alone" she screamed.

"so sad the little elf can't handle a few mean words" said the male shadow.

They stretched out hands of darkness towards her and grasped hold of her shoulders.

"now we'll abandon you again, and you'll have no family again" said the male shadow.

"leave me alone" screamed Stealth Elf again.

They pushed her down to the ground and pinned her down.

"now little Elfy, time for you to be alone again" said the female shadow.

Stealth Elf remembered the last time she saw her parents when they left her in the tree, then she remembered Eon and Eruptor, and Spyro, they were her family now not these figments.

"I have a family" said Stealth Elf.

"what did you say" said the male shadow.

"I have a family the Skylanders and Eon, they're my family" said Stealth Elf. The shadows relinquished their grip on her.

Her voice came back to her.

"you may have left me in a tree, but I found a new family and they won't abandon me" said Stealth Elf.

The shadows slowly vanished and Stealth Elf woke up. She passed the test. She climbed to her feet everyone else had woken up. They were still reeling from the test. They never had to reflect on this part of themselves before.

"they work for the enemy don't they" said Eruptor.

"yeah we should move on quickly before they wake up" said Kaossandra.

"too late" said Jet-Vac.

Suddenly Damian's eyes opened. He leapt to his feet and saw the Skylanders ahead of him. A few seconds later and Kai woke up as well. It only took him a few seconds to realise the Skylanders were right in front of him. Kai climbed to his feet.

"Skylanders our master had told us to stop you" said Kai.

"then try and stop us, but we're going for the Horn of Light" said Eruptor.

Damian sprang forward and was quickly tackled by Kaboom and Terrafin. Kai let out a powerful roar, lightning shot out of his chest like a laser. The blast hit Pop-fizz knocking him into the wall. Cynder and Jet-Vac took flight to attack from the air. Kai sent a couple of blasts their way. They quickly dodged the attacks. Stealth Elf teleported in front of him and kicked him in the teeth. A tooth flew out. Angering him. He grabbed Elfy and before she could teleport punched her into the wall.

Back with Damian, he kicked Terrafin backwards before punching Kaboom in the face. Kaboom retaliated with a punch of his own. Damian threw an uppercut knocking Kaboom back. Damian pushed him into the wall and tried to choke him out. From behind Terrafin leapt onto his back and wrapped his arms around Kaboom's neck applying pressure. Damian let go of Kai to deal with Terrafin. Kaboom quickly retaliated grabbing Damian and headbutting him. Damian's nose let out a crack. Now Kaboom was on the offensive.

Meanwhile Kai was trying to deal with the overwhelming numbers, Kaossandra and Eruptor attacked from a distance with Stealth Elf drawing his fire towards her. Cynder and Jet-vac attacked from the skies. Kai was getting angry. Little specks of lighting appeared around his body. Suddenly his body exploded in energy cracking the very earth beneath them and knocking all the Skylanders on the ground to the floor. The earth shook from the tremendous power.

"Jesus" said Kaossandra.

She scrambled back to her feet, but she struggled to stand with the ground shaking so violently. Another explosion happened knocking Eruptor, Jet-Vac and Cynder out of the fight. Pop-fizz let loose a vial hitting him in the face stopping the explosions of energy in their tracks. The remaining Skylanders quickly recovered and returned to fighting Kai.

Kaossandra froze his feet to the ground. Pop-Fizz threw another vial he raised his arms to protect himself and didn't see Stealth Elf Teleport underneath him and land a spinning kick to his chin. The force knocked him back breaking the ice around his feet.

"switch" shouted Kaossandra.

Kaboom and Kaossandra switched fights. Kaossandra started targeting Damian with ice spells freezing parts of his body. Kaboom jumped towards Kai and superman punched him in the face. They noticed a hole in the ground from when Kai used his energy attacks.

"try and throw him down the hole" said Stealth Elf. Kaboom grabbed Kai and tried to drag him towards the hole.

Kai responded by blasting Kaboom with his lightning attack knocking Kaboom back. Stealth Elf distracted Kai long enough for Kaboom to get back to his feet. He snuck back up behind Kai and locked him in a full nelson headlock. He dragged him closer to the hole, Pop-fizz threw another vial this time hitting him straight in the face. Finally, with one loud grunt Kaboom threw Kai into the hole. Kai scrambled at the sides as he fell into the darkness.

They turned to see Kaossandra throw a huge ball of magic into Damian's chest dropping him to his knees. Terrafin finished him off with a powerful right hook knocking him unconscious. Victory was theirs.

"We win Skylanders" said Kaossandra trying to catch her breath.

"that was a hard fight" said Eruptor coming to. The other hurt Skylanders regained their composure.

"we dealt with them and now only one trial left" said Stealth Elf.

"lets just hope it's easy" said Eruptor.

A door opened leading the way to the final trial of light.

"let's go" said Kaossandra. The group slowly trotted on.

 **Cadaverous Crypts**

A scared skeleton ran up to the throne.

"master the two soldiers have fallen" said the Skeleton.

The masked figure clenched his fist.

"enough, I thought I could trust them to do the job" said the Figure.

"what is the plan master?" asked the Skeleton.

"open the vault" said the Figure.

The figure slowly rose from his throne, the skeletons all around quickly flopped to the floor and bowed to him. He stepped down from his throne and walked towards a vault. A skeleton twisted the handle and pulled the vault door open. The figure entered the vault, he clicked his fingers and a series of torches ignited illuminating the room. A box was sat on the pedestal in the centre of the room. It was the only item inside the vault. He opened the box and a black slithering object like a snake slithered out and around his wrist.

"so, you grunts can't handle a few Skylanders, fine I'll deal with them myself" said the figure. The object wrapped around his wrist and hardened into the shape of a long-curved claw.

"hahaha" laughed the figure.


	8. Chapter 8

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 8**

The Skylanders had nearly accomplished their goal, they had but one more trial to pass. Then they would be able to get their hands on the Horn of Light. Inside the Cadaverous Crypts the mysterious figure had just retrieved the Claw of Darkness. He turned and exited the vault.

"close it" said the Figure.

The skeleton nodded and slowly locked the vault door. The figure walked back to his throne to retrieve something.

"skeleton bring me my cloak" said the Figure.

A skeleton obliged and quickly scurried off to grab his cloak. A few seconds later the skeleton returned holding a thin black cloak in it's skeletal hands. The skeleton nervously handed it to the figure.

"thank you, skeleton," said the Figure.

He placed his cloak on tying the end round his neck, the cloak had a hood which he put up covering his face in shadow.

"master do you wish for us to come with you" said a skeleton.

"no, I will handle them, I need the exercise" said the Figure. "do not worry this won't be any trouble" added the Figure.

He waved his hand with the Claw attached and summoned a dark portal. He stepped through it to parts unknown.

 **Back with the Skylanders**

The group were fatigued from all the challenges, this was one busy day for them all. But now they were soon approaching the final trial.

"well at least we're finally at the end" said Eruptor.

"yeah now let's just get past this and get our hands on that Horn" said Stealth Elf.

"what's the plan when we get it?" asked Jet-Vac.

"we take it back to the Academy, figure out how to use it and then go and confront this Marked One" said Kaossandra.

"is that wise" said Stealth Elf.

"it's better we take the fight to them, they won't see it coming" said Kaossandra.

Up ahead the final trial awaits. They exited the tunnel into another huge room. In the middle of the room was what looked like a miniature maze. Next to the puzzle were two huge winches that could be turned. Terrafin approached one of the winches and turned it slowly. The miniature maze started to turn. Suddenly CAL spoke up.

"leave that alone the trial hasn't begun yet" said CAL.

"what is the trial?" asked Stealth Elf.

"welcome contestants o your final trial, in this trial you must use the winches to turn the miniature maze and move a small ball around the maze from one side to the other, the winch on the left turns it clockwise and the winch on the right turns it counter-clockwise, however, it won't be that easy, the maze will continuously change and alter itself to stop you, you must make sure the ball reaches it's destination, then you will move on to the second stage of this trial" said CAL.

"well that sounds easy" said Stealth Elf.

A small metal ball rose out of the maze ground on one end. Terrafin grabbed hold of the second winch with Kaboom on the second. Stealth Elf directed them.

"alright Terrafin turn it slowly" directed Stealth Elf.

He obliged and the ball moved down a row, just as it was moving the maze walls slowly began to change.

"well they didn't wait" said Jet-Vac.

"alright turn Terrafin keep turning the winch" said Stealth Elf.

The ball managed to get through a wall before it changed.

"now Kaboom you turn, Terrafin stop" said Stealth Elf.

Kaboom turned the winch and the ball continued its path they were nearly half way through the maze. Just then the wall ahead of it changed making it hit a dead end.

"dang it" said Stealth Elf. "alright Terrafin quickly turn we need to get it moving" added Stealth Elf.

Terrafin quickly turned the winch as fast as he could. The ball started to make its way round the new path. They managed to get over halfway to the other side. They were making good progress when the maze started changing again. Stealth Elf anticipated it and saw where it would change.

"alright Kaboom now you turn" said Stealth Elf.

Kaboom listened and turned the winch, the ball rounded a corner just as it opened allowing the ball to continue uninterrupted. The ball rounded the final corner and sped towards the end. When it reached the end, the ball stopped in it's tracks and was lowered into the ground. A loud clunking noise could be heard and the sounds of gears turning. Up ahead a spell lifted revealing a huge ancient metal door.

"that must be the exit" said Stealth Elf.

Terrafin left the winch and approached the door, he grabbed the handle and tried to open it.

"it won't budge" said Terrafin.

"of course, you only finished the first part" said CAL.

"so, what's next?" asked Kaossandra.

"the next part of the final trial begins" said CAL.

Just then the miniature maze lowered into the ground disappearing into earth. A few seconds later a new puzzle rose out of the ground. It wasn't a maze. It was something else. It was a jigsaw puzzle a large one.

"this is the second part a puzzle" said Eruptor.

"Eon did love his games sometimes" said Kaossandra.

"in this trial you have a 100-hundred-piece jigsaw puzzle, you must solve this puzzle in less than two minutes, your time will start the moment you lift the first piece" said CAL.

"alright, that's a bit of a challenge but we can do this" said Kaossandra.

"alright how do we approach this" said Eruptor.

"we need a plan before we try this" said Kaossandra.

"okay so first we grab the corner pieces" said Stealth Elf.

"always best to start with the corners" said Eruptor.

"oh, oh let me do it I'm great at jigsaw's" said Pop-Fizz.

The group seemed a little worried to let Pop help he didn't exactly have the best track record of paying attention.

Stealth Elf slowly reached towards the first piece.

"alright let's do this" said Stealth Elf.

She grabbed the first piece and looked at it, the timer had begun. The group quickly scrambled looking through the pieces for the corners. After 10 seconds they had all the corner pieces.

"alright now we do the outer pieces" said Kaossandra.

The group quickly compared pieces, 25 seconds was down, and they didn't have many pieces on the board.

"we need to hurry" said Stealth Elf. She was beginning to panic.

The group weren't making much progress. CAL's voice spoke out.

"ninety seconds remaining" said CAL.

Their pace quickened and eventually they managed to sort out a few pieces. Pop-Fizz was trying to help.

"that piece goes there" said Pop-Fizz pointing to a spot.

Stealth tried it and it fitted into place.

"seventy-five seconds" said CAL.

Pop-Fizz was slowly taking over the puzzle, he was quickly putting pieces into place in rapid time. The other's stepped back to let him work.

"sixty seconds" said CAL.

They were just over halfway done with the puzzle. Pop-Fizzes hands were working double time to get the puzzle solved as quickly as possible.

"I've never seen Pop work like this" said Eruptor.

"45 seconds" said CAL.

Only 30 pieces left to go. Now it was just Pop working the others didn't want to get in his way. Pop managed to solve the puzzle with nearly twenty seconds left on the clock. The Skylanders congratulated him.

"nice Pop how did you get so good at jigsaws" said Eruptor.

"from when I was touring with Wolfgang" said Pop-Fizz.

"nice" said Stealth Elf.

The jigsaw puzzle clicked into place and more gears could be heard turning. The puzzle sunk back into the ground.

"congratulations contestants, you have passed all the Trials of Light, you may now be granted access to the Horn of Light" said CAL.

"well it's about time" said Eruptor.

Terrafin tried the door again, it still wouldn't budge.

"the door isn't budging" said Terrafin.

"well before you get in there is one more thing" said CAL.

"oh god" said Eruptor.

"in order to get through the final door, you must give a handprint to be granted access, thank you for your efforts and I hope you enjoy your prize" said CAL.

"so, I have to give my handprint" said Kaossandra.

"yep" said Eruptor.

Kaossandra stepped forward and placed her hand against the door. The door slowly scanned her hand and a final lock on the door clicked. Kaossandra grabbed the door handle and slowly pushed it open. Inside was a large room illuminated by several torches and by a bright white light coming from the Horn of Light. In the centre of the room was the Horn of Light. It was hovering in the air; the horn was completely white and shaped like a unicorn's horn. The group entered the room and approached the Horn of Light.

"well here we are, all our hard work has finally paid off" said Kaossandra.

Behind them several torches went out and the temperature dropped dramatically causing several of them to shiver.

"that Horn is mine" said the new arrival.

The group turned to see the mysterious figure stood at the entrance, the Claw slowly stretched out towards them.

"it's you, you're the Marked One" said Stealth Elf.

"that I am Elf, now step aside" said the Figure.

The Skylanders stepped between the Horn and the figure.

"I will not ask you twice" said the Figure.

"you're not taking that Horn" said Eruptor.

Stealth Elf slowly pulled out her bladed from behind her back, the Skylanders got ready for a fight.

"don't even bother, you are all no match for me" said the Figure.

Stealth Elf acted first, she teleported in front of him and slashed at him with one of her blades. The Claw quickly transformed into a sword and the Figure blocked her attack. She teleported behind him, but the Claw was quicker, it turned back into a snake like whip and caught Stealth in mid air before swinging her back towards the Skylanders.

He swung the Claw over his head before bringing it down onto the ground, the Claw send out a wave of dark magic towards them when it struck the ground. Cynder, Jet-Vac and Stealth dodged the attack, but the others weren't so lucky they got caught by the attack and thrown to the ground. The figure raised his left hand summoning giant skeleton hands from the ground and pinning them down. Now it was just these three. Cynder flew towards him sending a blast of lightning at him. He transformed the claw into a shield and blocked the attack. He quickly launched a half dozen blasts of dark magic, quickly knocking Cynder out of the sky, as she fell towards earth, he turned the Claw back into a whip and hit her before she hit the ground sending her hurling backwards towards the other Skylanders.

Jet-Vac tried to attack him, but he swiftly caught him with a skeleton hand. Now it was just him and Stealth Elf. She proceeded to teleport continuously to dodge his attacks.

"hmm so you think teleporting will help, well you can't do this" said the Figure.

He clicked his fingers and seemingly disappeared into thin air.

"where did he go" said Stealth Elf.

The figure reappeared behind her and struck her with a blast of dark magic. Now all the Skylanders were down. He turned away from them and approached the Horn of Light. He reached out his left hand to grab it. When his hand touched the Horn, it seared his hand.

"ah, the hell" said the Figure backing away.

"you can't touch it you're a being of darkness" said Kaossandra.

"nice little defence mechanism" said the Figure.

"who are you" said Kaossandra.

"before I kill all of you, I think it best you know Kaossandra" said the Figure.

He lifted his hood and revealed his face. The man's face was scarred from what looked like battles. He lifted his left sleeve revealing the mark of the Marked Ones, a black snake on the forearm just next to the elbow.

"my name is Mephesto, and you Kaossandra, you and Eon killed my parents" said Mephesto.

 **End of Chapter 8**


	9. Chapter 9

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 9**

The Marked One slowly circled the pedestal holding the Horn of Light.

"your boyfriend Eon killed my parents" said the Marked One.

"the two Marked One's struck down during the great war" said Kaossandra.

"precisely" said the Marked One.

"they were going to hurt people, kill people, Eon didn't have a choice" said Kaossandra.

"you Skylanders and your masters, you're not capable of stopping anyone are you, Eon could have incapacitated them or bound them, he didn't have to strike them down" said the Marked One.

"how do you know Eon was the one who struck them down?" asked Kaossandra.

"because I was there" said the Marked One.

"what" said Kaossandra.

"I was there, my parents left me at home, I was but a small child, practicing my magic, I learned a new spell and was so giddy I hoped to find my parents and show them, I happened upon the battlefield, oh the carnage, pain and death lay in all directions, Skylanders and beings of darkness alike, then there they were, my parents, mum and dad, I saw them about to unleash a mighty attack that would have turned the tide of the war, and then Eon struck them down before my very eyes" said the Marked One.

"do you know what that's like, to have your world ripped apart before your very eyes?" asked the Marked One.

"I don't know" said Kaossandra.

"course you don't you never lost anything, you still have your son and now you have the Academy, I was lost after that a little boy with no mummy to help sooth their pain, the darkness was my only friend and the skeletons to do my very bidding, but it was not enough, I felt lost and alone in the dark, I stayed in the Cadaverous Crypts because I was a mere boy who could not handle himself, I learned that day I had to grow up, I needed to be strong" said the Marked One.

"Why didn't you seek help?" asked Kaossandra.

"who was I to turn to, the Skylanders, I saw them take my family away, Strykore was gone, there was no-one to help me" said the Marked One.

He continued to circle the pedestal.

"but soon that will all be made irrelevant when I take this for myself" said the Marked One.

"you can't touch it; it will burn you again" said Kaossandra.

"who said I was touching it" said the Marked One.

The Claw slowly lifted the tip of it hovering slowly at face level.

"yes, Claw time for you to go to work" said the Marked One.

The Claw crept towards the Horn of Light.

"what are you doing?" asked Kaossandra.

"taking what will be mine" said the Marked One.

The Marked One gripped the Horn of Light with the now whip like Claw of Darkness, he strained as he attempted to pull it off the pedestal, the Horn was trying to resist him. The Marked One strained harder as he used all his strength to pull.

After nearly a minute of straining he succeeded the Horn of Light flung off the pedestal and flew towards the Marked One like a rugby ball. He caught it with the Claw before produced a box from underneath his cloak. He opened the box and carefully placed the Horn of Light inside.

"you can't do this" said Kaossandra.

"I can and I have, the Horn is mine and now there is nothing that can stop me" said the Marked One.

"look I'm sorry what we did to you, but you can't vent your anger out on us and the innocent people of the Skylands" said Kaossandra.

Behind the Marked One Stealth Elf started to wriggle free of the skeleton hand, Terrafin and Kaboom were slowly doing the same, being careful not to make too much noise.

The Marked One slowly approached the still captive Kaossandra. He knelt before her a wicked smile across his face.

"happiness must be taken, and now I will take mine" said the Marked One.

"what is your name?" asked Kaossandra.

The Marked One was surprised to hear that question. He hesitated for a second.

"my name, I haven't had to use that in a long time" said the Marked One.

"what is it" said Kaossandra.

"Mephesto" said Mephesto.

"nice name" said Kaossandra.

"it's just a name, although I think everyone else just knows me as the Marked One" said Mephesto.

"enough talk" said Mephesto.

He stood up and walked away from the group.

"you helped me find the entrance so I will spare you all this one time, but when we next meet, I will end all of you" said Mephesto.

Suddenly Stealth Elf acted she squirmed out of the skeleton and teleported towards him, she appeared behind him and landed a spinning kick to his back. The kick sent him stumbling forwards. Mephesto quickly recovered and glared at Stealth Elf, he saw her teleport again. Before she could strike, he disappeared into darkness, she reappeared but stayed on guard. Mephesto appeared to her right.

"boo" said Mephesto.

She tried to land a round house kick, but her leg was caught by the claw, he lazily threw her across the chamber where she smacked into the wall. Just then the other Skylanders broke free, the fight was back on. Cynder and Jet-vac took to the skies. Kaboom sprinted towards him.

"skeleton guardian" said Mephesto. He clenched his fist summoning a large skeleton from the ground, the skeleton blocked Kaboom from attacking him. Kaboom quickly tried to punch his way through.

Kaossandra tried to attack him with balls of white magic. He easily blocked her attacks by summoning a wall of darkness.

"your attacks are too feeble" said Mephesto. The rest of the Skylanders charged him from all directions.

Mephesto moved his hand with the claw attached over his head in a circular formation. He started to send out waves of dark magic in every direction. The Skylanders tried to defend themselves but they were all knocked back by his powerful magic. Stealth Elf recovered and noticed the box in his cloak. If she could snag it and teleport away, they would have the advantage. Mephesto continued with his assault and brought the claw down striking the earth and sending another wave of dark magic across the entire chamber. Kaboom shielded Terrafin from the magic, so he wouldn't be hurt from it.

"how long will you try to fight me; you can't touch me" said Mephesto.

Stealth Elf crept closer, making sure to see where the box was. She locked eyes with Kaossandra, Kaossandra looked from her to Mephesto, she realised what Stealth Elf was planning to do. She needed to distract him.

Kaossandra slowly summoned a powerful magic attack.

"bring it" said Mephesto.

Kaossandra launched the magic attack which was easily blocked by a wall of dark magic. Stealth Elf acted, she teleported to his side and scrambled to grab the box from his cloak. She fumbled with the box but eventually gripped the side of it with her left hand. She jumped away from him before he could react taking the box with her.

"what are you doing" said Mephesto.

He realised the box wasn't in his cloak.

"you little thief" said Mephesto.

Before he could strike her Stealth Elf teleported away taking the box with her.

"god damn it" said Mephesto.

"Skylanders retreat" said Kaossandra, she used the last of her magic to teleport everyone away from the trials of light.

Mephesto was now left all alone in the chamber.

"god damn it" said Mephesto.

"I will get you, and I will crush you all with the true might of the darkness" said Mephesto.

Mephesto opened a portal and returned to the Cadaverous Crypts. Once he returned a skeleton hastily approached him. In a fit of rage, he struck the skeleton with the whip like claw turning the skeleton into a pile of bones. A second skeleton carefully approached him.

"is everything all right Master?" asked the skeleton.

"muster all the skeletons, we march on the Academy tonight" said Mephesto.

 **End of Chapter 9**


	10. Chapter 10

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 10**

The Skylanders reappeared outside the Academy, they all landed in a pile on the floor. Stealth Elf stood nearby clutching the box with the Horn of Light inside.

"you guys got away" said Stealth Elf.

"yeah, once you got the box away, I used my magic to teleport us all away" said Kaossandra standing up and brushing the dirt off her robes.

"okay, after all of our hard work we now have the Horn of Light in our possession, so now what do we do?" asked Stealth Elf.

"we take it inside and prepare for a showdown with Mephesto, the Horn will help us win the fight" said Kaossandra.

"you know, you never actually explained what the Horn of Light does and why it's so useful to us" said Eruptor from behind Kaossandra.

"The Horn of Light works by transforming dark energy into light energy, we use the Horn effectively and all of Mephesto's dark magic will turn into light" said Kaossandra.

"okay that does sound like it would be very useful right now" said Eruptor.

Just then Whirlwind came flying down from the sky.

"Master Kaossandra I bring grave news" said Whirlwind.

"what is it Whirlwind?" asked Kaossandra.

"the Marked One, he has been spotted across the Skylands, he has laid waste to a village, he's heading this way and he's bringing an army" said Whirlwind.

"this is grave news, if he is coming here then the Academy is in trouble" said Kaossandra.

"what are we going to do Kaossandra?" asked Stealth Elf.

"we must prepare the Academy, we keep the Horn in my office, we must build up our defences and call upon everyone to help us, Whirlwind, Cynder, Stealth Elf, all three of you go around the Academy and gather all the cadets and masters, tell them to start fortifying the Academy with the others" said Kaossandra.

The three of them nodded in agreement and left to gather everyone. Kaossandra turned to the others.

"you all must start fortifying the Academy, raise the bridges, block all the doors and windows, I will start working on a defence and attack formation, and I will take the Horn into my office to try and get it to work" said Kaossandra.

Kaossandra left them and started to walk down the halls of the Academy, she could already see several cadets starting to board up windows with anything they could find. This was going to be a hard battle, but they could win they had the Horn on their side. Kaossandra entered her office, she walked up to her desk and placed the box onto her desk. She carefully lifted the lid to see the gorgeous vibrant white horn shine bright. She slowly put her hand to it, she was worried it may burn her like it did Mephesto. She grasped the horn gingerly in her left hand, the horn did not scorch her when she touched it. Kaossandra lifted it out of the box being careful not to drop it, for no reason she felt like it was sensitive like holding a rare vase. The horn's natural light started to disappear as she held it. What was she kidding herself she had no idea how to use it? All she could remember was that it would only work when a person who had no darkness in them held it the Horn would activate and bestow them it's power.

"I guess I still have some darkness in me" said Kaossandra.

She placed the horn in her pocket beneath her robes. It would be safer with her and not left in a room where anyone could try and sneak in. Kaossandra then went to work planning a battle formation. She placed the projectile Skylanders with ranged attacks at balconies and on the roof of the Academy, they would be able to utilise their powers from there. The ones who didn't would be placed behind the doors and windows to attack any enemies trying the enter. The less powerful Skylanders like bad breath and food fight, would help carry provisions around, food extra materials to fortify defences that were damaged etc. Kaossandra sat in her office for nearly three hours planning everything. She had the Skylanders move several of the vehicles inside the Academy walls, they would be used as a last-minute method to escape if it came to that. Kaossandra made sure most of the Skylanders got some rest, they had no idea how long this would last. Kaossandra sent out calls for help, King Pen had answered, he arrived as quickly as he could. Kaossandra placed King Pen alongside the others at the main entrance, he was a skilled fighter. Tree Rex, Slam Bam and Eye-Brawl also answered they too would be placed on the front lines to use their size to help.

The day slowly passed as everyone worked double time to fortify the Academy, it looked like a castle that was going to be under siege by invading forces, and night was beginning to drift in quicker than usual, they still had several hours of daylight left, why was night coming so quickly.

Kaossandra stepped out onto the roof of the Academy, she looked out at the surrounded area, the beautiful green of the school, would soon become a battlefield. Kaossandra had fought in wars before, but they never get any easier. As she looked out into the distance worry began to overtake her, she was worried she would fail Eon and let his precious Academy fall to wrack and ruin. Stealth Elf teleported alongside her.

"don't worry Kaossandra, we can win this" said Stealth Elf.

"who said I was worried Elfy" said Kaossandra.

"I can see it on your face, we all can, don't worry we are Skylanders and we can win this fight, we'll make Eon and Spyro proud" said Stealth Elf.

Kaossandra smiled.

"yeah we will now Elf get into position" said Kaossandra.

"yes ma'am" said Stealth Elf before teleported away.

As she teleported away a loud strike of lightning could be heard. Rain slowly began to pour down upon the Academy. The crackle of electricity made everyone jump. Just then the sounds of thumping could be heard. Kaossandra slowly looked out into the distance a terrifying sight came into her vision. An army of at least 10,000 skeletons were marching towards the Academy all carrying spears and shields. They bounced their spears off the ground in unison to form a series of loud ominous thuds.

They would be here in less than ten minutes. The Skylanders saw them coming and quickly got into position, Pop-Fizz had several dozen potions at the ready. The army got closer. The sounds of their spears hitting the ground was growing ever louder. Another strike of thunder appeared across the skies and the rain slowly became heavier. Puddle of water were forming around the Academy, the skeletons stepped through them undeterred.

The skeleton army finally stopped around 50 feet away from the Academy. A portal slowly appeared in front of them. Mephesto walked out the rain crashing down hard all around him.

"Skylanders, I have only come to take what is mine, give me the Horn, and I promise you only half of you will suffer the wrath of the Claw" said Mephesto.

The Skylanders were unmoved by his words.

"I am a respectful man, so I will give you one more warning, give me the Horn or watch everything you hold dear to you crumble" said Mephesto.

"we won't be deterred Mephesto" said Kaossandra.

"ah the witch speaks, but do you speak for all of them" said Mephesto.

"I do, we will not be moved, we will not hand you anything, we will not allow the darkness to overtake the light and cause pain against the innocent" said Kaossandra.

In her pocket the Horn started to glow slightly.

"it appears the witch does speak for you all, it's shame that you all have to suffer, oh well" said Mephesto.

He turned towards his skeleton army.

"rip this Academy apart piece by piece, no survivors" said Mephesto before teleporting away.

The lead skeleton stepped forward, he was taller than the others, he must have been a great general once.

"my army charge" said the leader.

The skeleton army broke into a run, the army of 10,000 skeletons sped towards the Academy, the almighty battle for the Horn of Light had begun.

 **End of Chapter 10**


	11. Chapter 11

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 11**

 **Apologies for the long wait on this chapter, it was exam season, plus had some personal things to deal with. But now I'm back and finished my first year of University so no long waits on new chapters I hope. I hope this chapter was worth the wait for you all.**

The skeleton army charged towards the Academy walls. The Skylanders reigned down holy hellfire on them blasting them apart left and right. Shattered pieces of bone flew in all directions. The skeletons finally reached the walls. They started to tear the defences splintering the wood and chipping away bits of rock of marble. The skeleton general hung back to address his troops. Up on the roof Kaossandra sent out a barrage of ice spells to hurt the skeletons. They managed to rip off the defences of one window and started to flood into the window, the skeletons piled on top of each other each one desperate to get inside. On the other side of the window was Terrafin and Kaboom, they lay in wait as the skeletons squeezed into the room.

They went to work. They shattered the skeletons with a single punch. The number started to overwhelm them, there was just too many. The skeletons swarmed over them pulling them to the ground and punching and kicking them. Several skeletons tried to stab at the, but Terrafin's thick skin protected him. Kaboom felt his skin be slashed by their weapons.

"argh" shouted Kaboom.

Terrafin tried to fight to help Kaboom but he couldn't move. Behind them Slam-Bam and Tree Rex entered the fray. The two large Skylanders charged towards the skeletons they easily smashed the smaller enemies with ease. Eventually they relieved the pressure off Kaboom and Terrafin.

"thank you, you guys," said Kaboom.

"no problem" said Tree Rex.

The four went to work keeping the skeletons from entering the academy. Up on top the castle Kaossandra fired off blasts of magic by her side was Pop-Fizz hurling potion vials. Several of the skeletons down below started to switch out their swords for bows and arrows. They aimed towards the top of the castle and fired. Over a hundred arrows flew whistled through the air as they approached their targets. Kaossandra saw the projectiles and summoned up a magic shield to protect them all. The sharp arrows bounced off the shield and fell back down to earth. The shield faded and Kaossandra quickly resumed hurling blasts of magic.

Down at the bottom of the academy the skeletons continued to try and rip through the barricades, but they were met by Stealth Elf, Eruptor and Cynder.

Cynder fired off blast of arching electricity that zapped several skeletons causing them to fall apart. Stealth Elf quickly teleported around the area kicking the skeletons heads off and teleporting away. Eruptor fired off blobs of lava melting the skeletons away. They were making good progress, in just a few minutes over half the skeletons were defeated.

The three Skylanders met up with Terrafin, Kaboom, Slam Bam and Tree Rex.

"all right let's head outside and take the fight to them" said Stealth Elf.

"agreed we got this" said Tree Rex.

The 7 of them climbed to the outside through the broken barricades and charged at the army of skeletons. They collided with the army. Kaboom and Tree Rex started to rip through the skeletons at a blistering pace, they swung their powerful arms around shattering them into pieces with ease. With the backup they didn't need to worry about being overwhelmed.

Away from the action Mephesto stood on a small island. He looked over at the action he saw his skeletons army quickly falling to the power of the Skylanders. Mephesto didn't seem worried his face was unmoved. He turned away from the academy and disappeared.

Back in the fray of the fight the Skylanders continued to rip through the skeleton army, there combined power was making short work of the army. The general skeleton was nervous now as his army crumbled around him. Before he could give an order Terrafin charged towards him and destroyed the skeleton with one swift powerful right hand. The skeletons were trying to scale the walls of the academy but were being easily knocked off by the teleporting Stealth Elf.

After almost thirty minutes the army was defeated. The Skylanders let out a sigh of relief.

"check the defences we still have Mephesto to defeat" said Kaossandra.

King Pen left Kaossandra's side and descended into the academy to check on the defences. The academy had a few holes in it but other than the one hole in the room Kaboom and Terrafin where in there was nothing to bad to worry about.

"okay can we get some repairs in this room" said King Pen.

Within a few seconds Jet-Vac entered the room carrying some planks of wood followed behind him by Bad Breath holding a hammer and a box of nails. The two went to work placing boards over the hole in the academy. Before they got started the seven Skylanders that exited the academy to fight the army head on climbed back inside. King Pen returned to the roof to speak to Kaossandra.

"we have a medium sized hole in the academy Jet-Vac and Bad Breath are repairing it as I speak, other than that we are safe" said King Pen.

"that's good, I've checked no-one is badly hurt, that's good we need everyone for the fight against Mephesto" said Kaossandra.

"I can sense the powerful darkness emanating from within him, he is not far" said King Pen looking out away from the academy to see if he could spot him.

"I hope we can defeat him" said Kaossandra.

"of course, we can, we have each other and the Horn of Light" said King Pen.

Suddenly the sound of loud clapping could be heard. Kaossandra looked towards the source of the noise. It was Mephesto.

"well done, you defeated my skeletons" said Mephesto.

"yeah we did now your all alone against all of us" said Kaossandra.

"who said I was alone, you have yet to see the true power of the Claw of Darkness" said Mephesto.

Mephesto slowly lifted one arm showing the coiling monstrous weapon of destruction.

"let me show you what this thing can really do" said Mephesto.

Mephesto struck the ground beneath him and dragging the claw across the ground, the ground started to split open, darkness started to flow out and formed a cloud. The cloud grew and grew until it was the size of a football field. The cloud flew up into the sky blotting out whatever light was left shrouding them in darkness. Kaossandra used her magic to lite torches lining the top of the academy. The cloud of darkness began to spew out 6-foot monstrous beings of pure darkness, they had huge claws and razor-sharp teeth, they looked like tall black gorillas with claws and teeth. They rained from the sky like troops rappelling out of a helicopter. They landed on the ground shaking it as they did. Eventually it stopped and a hundred powerful enemies released a series of might roars. Several of the Skylanders were growing nervous.

"the true power of the claw, to raise an army of pure darkness, indestructible, incredibly strong and blood thirsty, now kill them all" said Mephesto.

The hundred powerful monsters charged towards the academy the Skylanders proceeded to rain down attacks on them, but they were undeterred they, charged with unmatched speed and latched onto the academy walls, they quickly began to scale the academy walls with ease. In a few short seconds they reached the top of the academy and tried to attack the Skylanders. Stealth Elf teleported to them to help.

One of the monsters charged at Pop-Fizz but he was saved by Stealth Elf appearing from the side and kicking it in the teeth. The creature fell to the side allowing Pop-Fizz to get away, it quickly got back to its feet as more joined it. Kaossandra caught one of them with a blast of ice freezing one of the creatures leg's. The magic stopped the creature from moving, King Pen charged towards it wielding his mighty staff.

King Pen twirled it round in his hands swinging the end round and cracking the creature across the jaw. The creature fell to the floor where King Pen struck it again knocking it off the edge of the castle. The creature crashed to the floor it was stunned but only for a minute, soon it was back on it's feet and climbing the academy walls again.

Back with Jet-Vac and Bad Breath the creatures easily ripped through the boards and entered the room, Bad Breath tried to move back but was easily smacked to the side crashing into the wall. He fell to the floor struggling to stand up. Kaboom and Terrafin rushed into the room. They quickly pushed back against the creatures, but their punches were doing barely any damage, they knocked them back, but they were quickly charging at them again.

"these things won't go down" said Kaboom.

Terrafin cracked one of the creatures on the jaw only for to shrug off the punch and pounce at Terrafin.

"there too strong" said Terrafin.

The creature pinned Terrafin to the ground Terrafin held the monsters powerful jaws away with all his strength. Kaboom quickly fell to as two of the creatures leapt on him. He held them back with one hand each on both of their throats.

All around the academy the Skylanders were falling one by one, the creatures were too strong, their magic was having no effect. Cynder tried to keep to the air and blast them with her electricity, but it did nothing. Suddenly one of the creatures scaled the wall and pounced at her from behind pinning her to the floor.

Finally, after half the Skylanders had fallen, Mephesto finally entered the academy, he slowly looked around taking in the rooms, the decorations were all destroyed in the battle.

"this is the home of my parent's killer, once I'm done here this place will be no more" said Mephesto.

He slowly walked through the rooms of the Academy everywhere he looked his almighty creatures were pinning down Skylanders. Mephesto slowly walked towards the roof.

On the roof all that was left standing was Stealth Elf, Kaossandra, King Pen, Eruptor and Pop-Fizz. The others had all been taken down by the powerful creatures. The remaining five were surrounded by six creatures all around them.

"stay strong Skylanders" said Kaossandra.

"don't worry we can beat them" said Stealth Elf.

"stand down" said Mephesto.

Mephesto finally arrived seeing the last few fighters.

"I will deal with the final bastions of rebellion" said Mephesto.

The creatures scurried away allowing Mephesto to approach them.

"you silly people, you could have avoided all of this by just letting me have the box, now look around you everything you have is crumbling and you can't do anything to stop it, you could have prevented all of this, I may have spared you all" said Mephesto.

"we won't stand down to a man who wants nothing but destruction" said Stealth Elf.

"silence elf, I do not want destruction, I want to rule, what you think I'm going to destroy everything, of course not that would be preposterous, I wish to conquer the Skylands and make my fallen parents proud of their son, I will succeed where Strykore failed, I will succeed where that Dark Spyro failed, I will succeed because I wield the Claw, and nothing will stop me" said Mephesto.

He swung his arm round and quickly struck at the Skylanders, Kaossandra produced a shield which repelled the attack. But Mephesto kept it up firing a blast of dark energy shattering the shield. He then sent out a series of dark magic that looked like vines that shot out at the Skylanders Stealth Elf teleported away, but the other's weren't so lucky, the dark vines wrapped around their bodies hoisted them all into the air before throwing them back towards the ground. The air was knocked from their lungs as they tried to get back up only to catch another blast of dark magic sending them all rolling away. Stealth Elf reappeared.

"here we are again little elf, just me and you, your damn teleporting powers are a nuisance" said Mephesto.

"good, that means I'm getting to you" said Stealth Elf.

"not for much longer" said Mephesto.

He quickly fired out some more dark vines, Stealth Elf easily dodged them with swift movements. Mephesto swung the claw round like a whip to strike her but she teleported away. She pulled out her blades and threw one of them at Mephesto. He easily swatted it away, but he didn't see Stealth Elf teleport to his side and cut him with her second blade slicing his arm.

"ahh god damn it" said Mephesto.

Behind Stealth Elf the others were starting to get back up but the creatures advanced stepping on them and pushing them back to the ground.

Mephesto unleashed a wave of dark energy, Stealth Elf managed to teleport out of its reach. Mephesto turned invisible, Stealth Elf knew to expect an attack from anywhere, so she repeatedly teleported away to keep him from attacking. But Mephesto was ready, he waited till she teleported right in front of his invisible self, he quickly struck out knocking her back.

"you thought you could outwit me" said Mephesto.

He quickly struck her again with the claw of darkness, making sure she stayed down for the count.

"now then" said Mephesto turning towards Kaossandra.

"give me the box" said Mephesto stretching out his left hand.

Kaossandra tried to resist but she was too weak.

"you have already lost just give in" said Mephesto.

"never I won't give in I promised Eon after he died that I would keep the Skylands safe, I won't give in to the darkness" said Kaossandra.

Just as Mephesto was about to reach into her pocket and claim the horn, her pocket began to light up.

"what the heck is this" said Mephesto as the light began to grow brighter.

 **End of Chapter 11**


	12. Chapter 12

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 12**

The light in Kaossandra's pocket continued to glow brighter. Kaossandra slowly reached into her pocket, the creatures around her edged slightly closer. She grasped the Horn of Light and gingerly pulled it out of her pocket. The light could shine freely now. The creatures let out a series of hisses and scurried back away from Kaossandra and the others.

"the Horn is activating, not possible" said Mephesto.

"I told you, I won't let you take the Skylands" said Kaossandra.

"get her now" said Mephesto as he teleported away.

A creature leapt towards Kaossandra. She dodged one of it's powerful swipes and slashed at it with the Horn hoping for it to do something. As soon as the Horn touched the creature it let out a scream of pain and erupted into a shower of sparkling lights.

"nice" said Kaossandra.

Several more creatures started to charge at Kaossandra. The other Skylanders used the distraction to get back up and join the fight. Stealth Elf kicked one of the creatures knocking it towards Kaossandra who quickly dispatched it with a jab. Slowly the Skylanders managed to take the creatures on the roof out using the horn of light. They all breathed a quick sigh of relief as more creatures quickly climbed onto the roof drawn by the noise.

Stealth Elf teleported to Kaossandra's side.

"the Horn works" said Stealth Elf.

"I knew it would" said Kaossandra.

"let's put that thing to good use" said Stealth Elf.

"let's" said Kaossandra.

They all charged at the monsters and reignited the fight again. Behind them Mephesto watched carefully eying up Kaossandra, he needed to get that horn away without them using it. The best thing to do would be to attack her, she has no experience on how to use it, he could overpower her and take it from her.

They almost finished off destroying all the creatures when Mephesto acted. He sprinted towards Kaossandra making sure to stay invisible, he readied the claw to swing a powerful attack. He was close less than twenty feet now, he started to swing his arm behind him, he was only ten feet away, he started to swing his arm, he was now in range. The attack swung towards them; they had no idea it was coming.

The attack hit, the claw whipped round and unleashed a powerful surge of energy like an explosion, it rocked the very Academy shattering a part of the roof and sending all the Skylanders flying in different directions. Kaossandra landed rolling across the splintered roof. Cracks were forming in the roof. Mephesto made himself visible right in front of Kaossandra. He loomed over her as she struggled to get back to her feet.

"your weak, useless without your little buddy Eon by your side" said Mephesto.

"you don't know anything" said Kaossandra letting out a series of coughs.

"I know he's a killer, who focuses on his own view of right and wrong, he knew how to make decisions but not you, oh you can't make the hard choices, now give me the Horn" said Mephesto.

"you can have it when you pry it from my cold dead body" said Kaossandra.

"well given everything that's happened, I'm gonna do just that" said Mephesto.

He stepped back and brought the claw down on Kaossandra's body, slashing her back. She screamed out in pain and rolled over clutching at her.

"you people hurt me psychologically, so I'm gonna hurt you physically" said Mephesto.

He brought it down again, and again, and again, each time he brought it down Kaossandra felt like she was having her skin ripped from her body with every slash.

Suddenly as he brought it down a fifth time, the horn activated again blinding Mephesto. Kaossandra desperately fired a blast of magic knocking Mephesto back.

"ahh" said Mephesto grimacing in pain.

Kaossandra slowly pulled her-self to her feet holding the Horn of Light in front of her.

"you want to fight" said Mephesto.

"bring it" said Kaossandra.

Mephesto charged at her swinging the claw down on her. Kaossandra held the Horn out in front of her, the horn let out a surge of light energy deflecting the claws strike. Mephesto staggered back as the light hurt him. Kaossandra jabbed the Horn towards him sending out a powerful force of light the attack knocked Mephesto back making him clutch at his side from the blow. Mephesto swung the claw around summoning up a tornado of dark energy. The dark tornado lifted Mephesto off the ground. The tornado charged towards Kaossandra and engulfed her. She struggled to move against the surging dark energy. Out of nowhere Mephesto appeared blasting her in the face with dark magic.

Kaossandra was launched out of the tornado and back to the floor. She managed to climb back to her feet as the tornado vanished and Mephesto walked out.

"you can't stand against me" said Mephesto.

"shut up and fight" said Kaossandra.

Her feet were weak she could barely stand. The other Skylanders slowly got back up, they had recovered enough to stand up. Mephesto looked around to see the numbers growing. The door to the roof opened and several more Skylanders joined the fray. Kaboom, Jet-Vac, Terrafin, Frost, Tree Rex and Slam Bam all entered. Out of nowhere flew in Cynder. Now it was Cynder, Tree Rex, Slam Bam, Pop-Fizz, Jet-Vac, Stealth Elf, Eruptor, King Pen, Kaboom, Terrafin, Frost and Kaossandra against Mephesto.

Mephesto looked as the group surrounded him. Kaossandra still held the Horn of Light.

The group charged towards Mephesto. He ducked under a blow from Kaboom and knocked Pop-fizz backwards with a blast of magic. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kaossandra readying an attack, in front of him was Eruptor and Cynder preparing to strike. Mephesto unleashed an explosion of dark magic making everyone stumble backwards.

Mephesto readied another attack when Kaossandra blasted him with frost magic. Freezing his mid-section. Terrafin took the chance and leapt forward clocking Mephesto on the jaw with a right hook and sending him spinning to the floor. Mephesto spun round and saw Terrafin trying to attack him again. Terrafin was swiftly sent flying by a blow from the Claw. Mephesto clutched at his jaw he felt his mouth and realised two teeth were missing.

"you hit hard you freak of nature, I thought sharks lived in water" said Mephesto.

He climbed back to his feet and tried to continue the fight sending out blasts of dark magic in every direction. Mephesto could feel himself growing weaker, the claw was a major drain on his energy. He didn't expect the fight to go on this long. He needed to end it fast. Mephesto started to ready another powerful blast as he dodged all the Skylanders attacks. They were coming from all sides and he was running out of time.

Mephesto decided to turn invisible again until he could ready the attack. He vanished into thin air and tried to carefully slip away from the group. But they had learned Cynder sent out a bolt of arching electricity and did a full three hundred and sixty spin, until she hit him causing him to shout out in pain.

They all knew where he was chased after him. Mephesto broke off into a sprint and fled away from the Academy the sounds of his feet hitting the ground kept them hot on his toes. Eventually they all left the grounds of the Academy, Mephesto stopped and had to catch his breath. In no time at all the entire Academy was behind him. Mephesto could feel his body being drained of energy, he needed to return to the crypts and remove the claw or he would pass out or even worse. His invisibility power was waning, making him visible.

"give it up, there's no escape" said Kaossandra, who took the lead approaching him Horn in hand.

"you people, you are tougher than I thought" said Mephesto still clutching at his side, blood dripped from his mouth from where Terrafin punched him.

"you attacked our home, now please surrender" said Kaossandra.

"no, no surrender, I will not stop until you are destroyed, all of you, what you have will crumble to dust when I'm done, I'll leave here today and I'll return because you people, without your Eon, you can't make the hard decisions" said Mephesto.

"you need to stop your hatred fuelled way of revenge, it's been decades since then, you need to move on, or you'll just be consumed in anger and darkness" said Kaossandra.

"my parents would be so proud" said Mephesto a deranged look upon his face.

"would they?" questioned Kaossandra.

"yes, they would, they dedicated their lives to Strykore and to change everything, I am trying to do that, and I won't let anyone get in my way" said Mephesto.

He finally finished charging up the attack and was ready to strike. Kaossandra was desperate she could see he was deranged and losing it, he would pull a desperate move soon. Then she saw it the Claw started to glow slightly with a dark aura. She had to make a choice and she hoped to god she made the right one.

Mephesto brought his arm up to swing but Kaossandra was quicker, she stepped forward and in one swift movement she jabbed the Horn up like a knife and plunged it into his gut. The horn was embedded quite deep. Kaossandra ripped the horn from his body. Mephesto slumped to the floor clutching at his gut. Blood poured from the wound.

"oh, oh you, maybe I was wrong, you can make the hard choices" said Mephesto his breath was growing rapid.

"I can help you; I can heal you" said Kaossandra.

"get away, I don't need help, I don't need anything, you think this will stop me I'll be back" said Mephesto.

He tried desperately to pull himself to his feet. Kaossandra tried to help him up.

"get away you filthy woman, don't you think you've done enough" said Mephesto.

He struggled hard but eventually he got to his feet.

"we're taking you in" said Kaossandra.

"like hell you are" said Mephesto.

The other Skylanders quickly rounded on him to stop him from fleeing. Mephesto had one last trick up his sleeve. He used the last of his energy to teleport himself away from the fight. The Skylanders all yelled in frustration as Mephesto got away.

"well I see things are being productive while I was away" said a voice from behind them.

The Skylanders all turned to see Spyro staring at them.

 **End of Chapter 12**


	13. Chapter 13

**Skylanders Academy the Marked One**

 **Chapter 13**

Mephesto stumbled back to his throne room deep into the Cadaverous Crypts. He moved towards his throne tripping over his own feet and collapsing just feet away. Mephesto pressed his right hand against his wound. The Horn had gone in very deep. He was bleeding profusely.

Mephesto painfully climbed back to his feet and stepped forward grasping the side of his throne and lowering himself down on the seat. The claw moved on its own studying his injuries.

"it's really bad Claw, I don't any healing spells, the skeletons will have to tend to me, SKELETON MAID GET HER NOW" said Mephesto.

A nervous skeleton approached the throne.

"master" said the skeleton.

"I am injured skeleton get any medical tools or get a skeleton who used to be a doctor" said Mephesto.

"at once master" said the skeleton.

The skeleton turned on its bone heels and run away to find something or someone to help. Mephesto laid back in the throne trying to control his breathing.

"it was folly of me to attack them with the Horn, I was rash, next time it will be flawless" said Mephesto.

"who said there's going to be a next time" said an unknown voice from his left.

"whose there?" said Mephesto.

"someone who's been watching you" said the voice.

"show yourself" said Mephesto.

"of course, I think it's fitting you see the person who's going to end you" said the voice.

A clanging sound came from Mephesto's left. He turned to see who was approaching him. The person had a metal foot banging off the ground with every step.

"you, it can't be" said Mephesto.

"oh, but it is" said the voice.

"but how can you possibly be here" said Mephesto.

"luck, that's how, luck" said the voice.

The person approached Mephesto they were now stood just ten feet apart.

"what are you doing here?" said Mephesto.

"collecting something that will help me" said the voice.

"you won't take anything from me" said Mephesto.

He used all his strength to swing his arm down the Claw transformed into a large sword. The Claw came down hard. The mysterious person easily dodged the attack. Mephesto tried to summon some dark magic but he was too weak. He fell forward off his throne and face planted into the ground clutching at his stomach.

"tut, tut, you are far too injured from your battles with Kaossandra and her disgusting Skylanders" said the voice.

The unknown person stood over the injured Mephesto. He crouched down and grasped a hold of his right hand.

"let me go" said Mephesto.

He tried to fight back but he was too weak. The unknown person ripped the Claw of Darkness from his arm. Claw went limp, he was not a Marked One, so it didn't work for him.

"you idiot, the Claw will only obey a Marked One" said Mephesto.

"I don't want the Claw" said the figure.

"what do you want then?" said Mephesto.

"I want the darkness inside" said the figure.

The figure gripped the claw with two hands and tensed like he was trying to bend it. Darkness started to come out of the claw like smoke. The figure was straining themselves, they were clearly putting a lot of effort in.

Eventually after nearly 30 seconds the Claw snapped in half. The darkness inside erupted into a cloud hovering above them. The figure dropped the two broken pieces and raised his right hand. The darkness started to be absorbed into him.

The figure opened his mouth and breathed out a bump of dark energy.

"now this is power" said the figure.

"what are you?" said Mephesto.

"I am the reckoning of the Skylands, a being born to change everything, now the final war will begin soon, the second great war for the Skylands is coming and things will never be the same again, too bad you will never see those changes" said the figure.

The figure turned to the weakened Mephesto. He lifted his right hand and summoned some dark magic taking the form of a scythe.

"now Mephesto, be with your family, I'm sure you only disappointed them a little" said the figure.

Mephesto tried to force himself to his feet in anger.

"I'd like to see you" Mephesto didn't get to finish his sentence.

The figure struck slashing at Mephesto and killing him. Blood sprayed out staining the ground, Mephesto went still. The figure was gone, the skeleton maid returned dragging a skeleton doctor behind him, only to see Mephesto now dead body.

 **Back at the Academy**

"Spyro it's you" said Stealth Elf.

She teleported straight to him and grabbed him in a huge hug, crushing the wind out of him.

"I missed you too Elfy but can't breathe" said Spyro.

"sorry" said Stealth Elf letting him go.

The other Skylanders reached Spyro pulling him into a group hug. Eventually the hugging died down.

"what happened here?" said Spyro.

"an evil villain tried to conquer the Skylands using a powerful relic and attacked the Academy, you know typical Monday" said Eruptor.

Everyone let out a chuckle at Eruptor's joke.

"what about you Spyro, where have you been you've been gone just over a month?" said Kaossandra.

"well Eon came to me and told me he knew where my family was" said Spyro.

"wait Eon, he's gone, isn't he?" said Stealth Elf.

"his physical body was destroyed, he's trying to work out how to get that sorted out right now, he's a spirit, like a ghost" said Spyro.

"where is he?" asked Kaossandra.

"he said he wanted to go to the headmaster's study" said Spyro.

"well then we better go see him we can all sit down, and you can tell us what you two have been up to" said Stealth Elf.

"agreed" said Spyro.

The group headed towards the head study, passing other cadets and Skylanders and they begin to repair the damages done to the Academy. The group arrived at the door to the headmaster's study. Inside they heard sounds of an annoyed voice.

Spyro pushed the door's open to see Eon trying to use a book, his hands kept phasing through the book since he wasn't a physical person. As soon as they saw him, the Skylanders ran forward to hug him, they all ran through him and fell on top of each other in a big pile.

"yep I made that mistake when I first saw him like this" laughed Spyro.

The Skylanders stood back up and adjusted themselves.

"we thought you died" said Jet-vac.

"I nearly did, but I used some old magic to preserve my spirit, I was trying to use that book as I believe it might have info on how to get my physical body back" said Eon.

"that would definitely be useful" said Stealth Elf.

"well at least the Academy is being looked after by a great headmaster" said Eon.

"We barely won" said Kaossandra.

"you persevered and you didn't give in, and you won" said Eon.

"yeah we did" said Eruptor.

"congratulations to you all, you proved today that you can handle tougher situations on your own" said Eon.

"enough about us what about you guys, what have you two been up to?" asked Kaossandra.

"an adventure and a half, Spyro would you like to tell the tale" said Eon

"gladly" said Spyro sitting down on the couch in the office.

"it all started when we flew away from the Academy together and I left the message to you guys, since then all manner of crazy things happened on our journey to find my family" said Spyro.

 **The End Of Book 2**

 **Coming Soon the third story in the Skylanders Academy journey, Skylanders Academy Chronicles, the story of Spyro and Eon journey to find Spyro's family, on their journey they meet a whole manner of characters, this is my Skylanders Academy Season 4 and I hope you guys enjoy it since we sadly won't ever get a real Season 4.**


End file.
